Dance! Our Song Ends with U
by EvilDeathKitty
Summary: A few months after the events of TWEWY, Neku finds himself trapped by an invitation to one of Japan's biggest concerts, courtesy of Shiki. Of course, that little facade is going to have to give at some point... T for themes and a little language.
1. No More Horrible Melancholy

_Well, I uploaded this thing before, which is why I pretty much released 13 chapters in the same day. I just hope this gets a decent amount of views, despite how obscure and badly-meshed these canons are..._

_Important Disclaimer: I don't own any of the games that are in this fic. Other than a handful of OCs, everything else belongs to their respective owners._

One day, at the WildKat Cafe.....

"I'm booooored right now," groaned Shiki.

"You can think of something interesting for us to do, right Neku?" said Joshua, slowly stirring his coffee.

"Why are you asking me? I'm as clueless as you two right now. Beat and Rhyme are at the skate park, and Mr. H is busy doing 'work'..." Before Neku could continue, he was interrupted by an odd group of men.

"Are you sure this is the place, Ippongi-san?" A man with long, blonde hair asked. He looked rather feminine, if not for his outrageous eyebrows.

"Yes, I'm sure, Saionji. Now be quiet, I'm trying to find us a good spot to sit," grumbled another man, with red and black hair at about the same length, forming a large spike... thing in the front. He had even MORE outrageous eyebrows.

"Excuse me," a brunette with a chin-length bob said politely. "Do you, by chance, know where the owner of this cafe is?"

"Back off, lady. What do you even want him for anyways?" Neku replied in a flat tone.

This, however, was not a good answer, for he had begun to walk up to Neku, "First of all, I am not a lady, a am a MAN. SECOND OF ALL-" The young brunette was interrupted by a much taller man, with large bluish-white dreadlocks. The man wearing dreadlocks began to approach the trio sitting at the table.

"I'm sorry for any inconvenience we may have given you, but do you, by any chance, know where a Mr. Sanae Hanekoma is? We would just like to order some items right now." This man certainly had a regal air.

"Oh, hey guys!" Mr. Hanekoma yelled in surprise. Apparently, he was finally done with "work".

"Hey Mr. H, do you know these guys?" Shiki asked.

Mr. H looked at the ceiling, as if he was trying to avoid Neku's question.

"Say, have you seen about 6-9 girls wandering around here?" asked a man with long, orange hair tied into a braid.

"Last I heard, they were trying to get tickets for JIN2," another man said, wearing a buzz cut and angular glasses.

"Oooh! You mean that idol singer? I hear he almost got kidnapped about a year ago," Shiki then pointed at the blonde. "I think you kinda looked like someone there!

"Funny story ...." a bald man with glasses replied.

"Are we gonna ORDER anything around here or not?" the guy with the spiky head roared.

"Calm down, Ryuuta-kun," Another tall man said. This time, he had an incredibly spiky beard to go with his hair, with a torn cap apparently stuck to it. "We'll have 9 of everything, please."

"Is this guy nuts!?" Neku thought.

"Oh come on, Neku. Don't tell me you haven't eaten 9 of everything in a store before," Joshua said snarkily.

"I SAID to keep that a secret."

"Well, it was necessary, given the context," Joshua replied. "I don't blame you."

"Wait, where's Shiki?"

To their surprise, Shiki was next to the blonde, asking questions about JIN2.

"So, can you get _me_ tickets?" she asked.

"Why would we do that when we don't even know your name? Besides, we have better things to do than escort a bunch of brats." the blond replied stingily.

"My name's Shiki Misaki. My friend over there is Neku, and the other guy is Yoshiya Kiryuu, but people call him Joshua for short. My other friends Beat and Rhyme are at the skate park right now, but they might be back soon."

"Well, since you were so nice as to tell us, I'm Hayato Saionji. The arrogant man in red is Ryuuta Ippongi.

The man with dreadlocks is Kaoru Kiryuuin, while the brunette is Shinta Kikuchi. We also have Hajime Tanaka and Kai Doumeki here."

"What about the four guys over there?"

"The bald man with glasses is Tsuyoshi Moriyama, the guy with the long braid is Kenshin Sugita, the guy with the eye patch is Atsushi Saito-"

"And the guy crying in the corner with the mohikan is Ittetsu Suzuki," Ryuuta happily chimed in.

"Anyways, Saionji-san, can I come with you? And can I bring my friends with me?"

Ryuuta bumped Hayato on the shoulder. "C'mon, Saijoni, the girls would love some company with us, especially if they're younger!"

Shinta felt his face. "It still hurts when I touch my cheeks...."

Shiki then put her finger to her lip and said, "Oh, so _that's_ why..."

Hayato pushed Ryuuta off. "How are we going to pay for everything? You know this will cost us millions, right?"

Ryuuta put his arm around Hayato and said, "Hello? Super-rich best buds here!"

Hayato was enraged. "First of all, we are not 'Best buds'. Just because we saved the world together doesn't mean we're the best of buddies just like that, OK!? Second," Hayato then pulled Ryuuta's ear towards his mouth and whispered, " I don't know if we can trust her. She looks like quite the social butterfly, and we can't have anyone revealing our secret! Especially since we made that alliance with THEM..."

Shiki then realized something. "Wait... Ippongi? Saionji? JIN2? WORLD-SAVING!? It all makes sense now, Neku!"

Neku groaned, "What's your crackpot theory this time? First you thought that random guy that passed by Hachiko was actually a prince in disguise, now this?"

Shiki flung her arm out to her side, "It can't just be a coincidence, Neku! Both Ryuuta Ippongi and Hayato Saionji... The bald guy said something about there being a 'funny story' about JIN2's near-abduction... Having to pick up 6-9 girls... Not to mention the rivalry between the two guys... Don't you see it, Neku? These people are the Ouendan from Yuuhi and Asahi!"

"What's so special about that?" Neku yawned. "There's Ouendan all over the place."

"Do you remember that sudden freeze a long while ago?"

"Yeah, so? What does that have to do with anything?

Joshua leaned over to Neku. "It has everything to do with anything, Neku. In fact, Spiky, Lion-head, Buzzcut, and those other two-"

"HEY! WE HAVE NAMES, YOU KNOW!" The entire Yuuhi squad yelled.

"Well, you have _nicknames_ now, (Except for the backups, because they don't matter.) And you're going to like it. As I was saying, those 5 guys were cheering around Tokyo 6 years ago. They weren't really known for their deeds at first, but a call for their help has almost always been attributed with an unusual amount of success. However, after the meteor incident, they suddenly disappeared without a trace..."

Hayato then added to Joshua's description. "You see, our squad was formed a little more recently, after the infamous meteor incident. At first, the people in Asahi doubted us because of our inexperience. Fortunately, they warmed up to us rather quickly. Of course, when we found out that there was a new squad for _Yuuhi_..."

Neku sighed. "I get the point already, geez."

"Now I'm going to tell EVERYONE I KNOW!" Shiki squealed energetically.

"But that's what we're trying to AVOID!" Ryuuta yelled.

"Can I at least tell Beat and Rhyme? They're really good with secrets!" She then gave Ryuuta the biggest set of puppy-dog eyes that she could manage.

"Fine, but you can't tell anyone else!" He said, annoyed.

* * *

Random Notes:

-Shiki is only fangirling them for plot purposes, don't mind her.

-If you're finding a lack of boob in this chapter, never fear! All the cheergirls will be here next chapter!

-The Agents will be here too. (And Divas.) They will be important!

-Yeah, I couldn't resist having a subtitle like that, it's an in-joke. Then again, so is my username.


	2. Shibuya Kaidashi Kikou

Molco, where our other heroines are shopping...

"Hey guys, look at this!" Sayaka yelled from across the room.

"Ooh, it's so cute! I _need _to have this for my collection!" Anna gasped.

"Calm down, you two, it's just a T-shirt. Geez! Commoners obsess over the minutest things." Rin sharply replied.

Sayaka giggled and said: "Cmon, Shirosaki-chan, don't be a spoilsport! Besides, we need to make the best out of this trip, and JIN2's concert isn't until the 28th!"

"U-umm... Do... Do I look odd in this outfit?" Reika shyly asked. She wasn't used to wearing modern outfits at all, and felt very awkward in the streets of such a busy place such as Shibuya either way.

Sayaka slapped Reika on the back. "Of course not, Reika. In fact, your outfit looks gorgeous. Why don't we find some more for you?"

Suddenly, a phone rang. "Ooooh! It must be mine!" Honoka yelled. " Now where is it...?" All the Lapin Angelique attire she was wearing made it hard to find her stuffed rabbit Chaco, much less a cell phone.

Rin pulled a sleek blue and red phone out of her pocket. "Don't worry Honoka, it was actually my phone." She opened the phone and answered, "Hello? Shirosaki here."

"Rin! Meet us at Udagawa after you're done. We have something urgent to tell you."

"Haya-chan! How are you? How was your day? Do you have any pictures?"

"That's not important right now, so hurry up!"

"Fine, be that way, Mr. 'It's too important for me to care about you, Rin.'" She hung up and said, "Alright, guys. Apparently, something really important happened, so we need to get to Udagawa, ASAP."

Sayaka went into her "cheerleader" pose. "Alright, girls! Let's get crackin'!"

The two backups began to follow suit. "Whatever you say, boss!"

Unfortunately for them, the Asahi girls already left.

"Darn." Sayaka said.

"WE WERE HAVING AN AWESOME MOMENT, YOU KNOW!" Aoi yelled.

Once they were outside, Aoi saw two people bickering about some sort of game.

"Come on Isamu, we need to hurry up! If we're going to survive this challenge, we have to get our act together!"

"Do we have to go right now, Keiko? I was having so much fun screwing with people's heads!"

"We've only got ten minutes left, and that Reaper over there needs a Heart Pochette!"

Not realizing what they were talking about, Aoi took out her newly-bought accessory and said, "Ummm, you can have mine!"

Keiko politely pushed the bag out. "Don't worry about it; we still have enough Yen left!"

"AOI!!! We need to get to Udagawa RIGHT NOW!" Sayaka yelled from afar.

The pink-haired glasses girl began to run towards them. "I'm sorry I couldn't help, guys!"

Isamu was a little confused. "Wait, aren't we invisible to normal people? Maybe they're Players too."

"They can't be. We're supposed to "Defeat the twins" at Spain Hill, so why would they head to Udagawa?"

"Maybe they're Reapers?"

"Well, I don't think they're Reapers. Why would they help us for no reason?"

Isamu mumbled a few words, despite being just as confused as Keiko was.

"Well, we have no intention of getting erased just yet, so let's head on over to Spain Hill already!" Keiko then ran as quickly as she could, with Isamu in tow.

* * *

Meanwhile, at Udagawa, Beat and Rhyme were just finished skateboarding.

"Wow Beat, you're getting really good at this stuff!"

"You weren't so bad yerself, Rhyme. Besides, I would never have started skateboarding seriously if it weren't for you."

Suddenly, a group of people went up to Rhyme. One of them, a young blonde wearing a sweater, said, "You know, you guys are really good at this. Do you mind if we try?"

"Ooooh! Ooh! Me first!" A guy in a jaunty fedora cried.

"Don't worry, everyone will get their turn." A guy with a large swirl of a hairdo said calmly. "[Although surfboarding is more my thing...]"

Once everyone had gotten their turn, Beat picked up his and Rhyme's board and said, "Well, we hafta go back now. Maybe we can-"

"Beat! Rhyme! I have something awesome to tell you!"

Before Ryuuta began to speak, he noticed the group of people near Beat. "Dammit, not THOSE guys. What's the point of keeping our operation secret if we're seen at the same time?" he thought.

"Ahem, I'LL speak for all of us here." Joshua said. "You see, we were wandering around Cat Street when we noticed _these_ people around here. Apparently, we have found the elusive Ouendan from Yuuhi and Asahi."

One of the people, an African-American wearing headphones, said, "You don't need to tell us that, we already know the-"

The blonde whispered into his ear. "[[Spin, we know you're a bit of a rookie, but don't blow our cover. It's bad enough that we were finally seen together.]]"

"Fine, fine, _Stella_. You see, me and my friends here actually know the Ouendan, because Stella here is actually Anna's sister. See, there she is right now!"

Everyone turned their heads and saw the busty blonde, with friends in tow. "Sorry we're late, we had to- [Oh hi, _Stella_! You came to Tokyo for a vacation? And you brought all your friends over! What were their names again?]"

"Err... Elliot. Elliot J. Smith."

Spin gave his alias. "Matt Ellington here."

"Nathan Clay," a deep voice boomed.

"Derek... Yu?"

"Morris Chahal!"

"Penelope Stiles," a silver-haired woman said behind her laptop.

"Milly Treston, but most just call me Missy."

"Oh yeah, we haven't heard your names yet!" "Stella" then looked at the two young blondes in front of her and said, "Tell us your names!"

"Umm... I'm Rhyme, and this is my big bro, Beat."

"Why don't you come over to our place? We're pretty wealthy, so we got to secure a nice house in Meguro!"

"I dunno, we just met you people..."

"Don't worry, Rhyme! They're friends with the Ouendan, what could go wrong?"

"Well, I guess I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth... Okay! I'll take up your offer!"

Once Beat, Rhyme, and Stella's friends left, Hayato said to Shiki, "You're only acting friendly with us because of the concert thing, right?"

"Pretty much, now cough 'em up!"

"Rin?"

"Oh, the spare tickets you wanted? You can have them, but on one condition..."

"Well, since they're going with our friends, you guys are coming with us."

Neku was shocked. "WHAT!? Why do I have to go with-with YOU guys?"

"Well, we would say that it's a precaution so you don't go blabbing our secret to everyone you know..." Hayato said.

Ryuuta then said, "But it's mainly because we want you to do our menial labour."

Kai bursted out into laughter. "Besides, maybe we could get you kids into shape! I mean, LOOK at yourselves! You three are practically skeletons!"

Hajime looked over his book and asked, "Umm, can you try not being so forceful? Besides, I think they'd like to go home by now."

Shiki let out a sheepish laugh. "Umm... about that..."

"It's a little complicated." Joshua said.

"It's a _lot _complicated." Neku sighed.

Sayaka pointed at the sun. "Well, it's getting dark now. Who wants some hot chocolate once we get back to the old dojo?"

Cries of, "We do! We do!" were heard from various people as they headed to the old Ouendan dojo. Something was telling Neku that this was going to be one heck of a long journey...

* * *

Somewhere, far from the location of our heroes...

"Hmm... This is a very interesting development. Do you think you're ready for our plan on the 28th, Masuyo?"

"Ready when you are, boss!" a girl wearing a spiky pigtail on the side of her head exclaimed.

A mook in a cow suit spoke up. "Um... what happened to all those failed plans? You know the ones with J-Yama, our motor branch, and the kidnapping of JIN2?"

"J-Yama K-Go, the corrupt mayoral candidate? Just a crony. The car company that stole Sushi Motors' biggest plans? Just a minor branch. The kidnapping of JIN2, Japan's number one idol!? Just the beginning. Soon, my dear Cow Suit, we will show the world our full potential! A world ruled by Moo Moo Corporation, what a moo-tiful world such would be!"

"Isn't that last line kinda sorta copyrighted?" the Cow Suit asked.

Masuyo leaned on her chair. "Oh well, I think we're under protection anyways."

"Why do I have to work with such incompetent underlings?" the company head thought out loud. "Anyways, commence Stage One of our plan."

To be Continued? Dance Safe, kid!

* * *

More Random Notes!

-What menial labour is in store for our 15 (and possibly infinite?) year old heroes? Not as much as you'd think, actually!

-Oh yeah, a pro tip- [[In this fic, stuff between the braces is English.]] Just wanna point that out.

Like a bad hidden object game:

-More subtitling fun! (Based on a manga, natch.)

-Derek really sucks at aliases. Morris, not so much, but he still sucks. (I'm sorry! I really liked the name!)

-Plot! Villains! Continuity! Shameless ripping off! All on the next chapter!


	3. Ikuze!

"Well, we're home, back at the dojo!" Ryuuta said in a sing-song voice.

"Is it me, or does this place look a little different?" Saito asked.

"Well, I might not know much about the housing standards of commoners, but isn't it a little strange to sleep in a destroyed home?" Hayato remarked.

Ryuuta looked at what was once the Ouen Dojo. "I hate to admit it, but you're right, Saionji. I forgot that we left Tokyo _because _of our wrecked dojo."

Neku then asked Hajime, "What the heck happened? It looks like a meteor hit it or something..."

Once Neku said "something," everyone began to stare at him.

"That wasn't a very good joke." Hajime said sternly.

"Oh. Riiiight. I'll keep a note of that."

"Well, at least we have a task for our new recruits!" Kai yelled.

The headphone-wearing teen was dumbfounded. "Since when are we your 'recruits'?"

"Since NOW, of course! Everyone, your first task this vacation is this: Rebuild the Ouen Dojo! Time limit: before dark! Failure means we all have to sleep on the grass!"

"Wait, can't we just get a hotel room?!" Neku asked.

"Don't you guys own a houseboat?" Shiki wondered.

Kai ignored the two teens, then took a deep breath. "Ready, Ouendan!"

"OSU!!!"

"Ready, Cheergirls!"

"GO!!!"

"Ready, recruits!"

"Umm... What should I say?" Shiki asked.

Neku put a hand on his hip. "I guess we just shout out catchphrases? What should I say...? Oh, BRING IT!!!"

"COME GET SOME HOT STUFF!!!"

Amongst all the catchphrase-yelling, Shiki had a flash of inspiration. "I know what to say now! O..."

Neku said to himself, "Well, I guess we use the motivation," and joined Shiki.

"I don't _really _need their help, but it could be fun." Joshua thought. The three of them proceeded to finish their yell.

"O...OUENDAAAN!!!"

Nothing happened, except for Sugita's nose twitching a little.

"Help us here!"

Ryuuta let out a big groan. "Fine, fine. I'll ready the cover. Kai, you cheer this time. And you two are going to back him up."

Moriyama scratched his head. "You want us to be his backups?"

Hajime got a small CD player out. It was a bright red colour, with the Yuuhi logo right on the speakers. "Well, we're friends now, so we should get used to doing each other's favours."

"Well, the kid has a point." Sugita said in a stoic tone.

The geta-wearing chief returned to his normal hot-blooded self. "WELL, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GET TO BUILDING!!!"

"Yes sir!" Everyone replied.

Once everyone began to build, "Kimi Monogatari" by Little by Little came on, and Kai, Sugita, and Moriyama got into their positions. "IKUZE! SAN! NI! ICHI! SORE!"

* * *

Meanwhile, at Stella's house...

"So that's why we don't have statues in here."

Beat scratched his head. "Wait, what does an alien invasion have to do with statues?"

"Beat, didn't you listen? There was a big Rhombulan invasion a few years ago. We probably don't remember it because we were sleeping."

"Wait, you slept through an ALIEN INVASION!?" Spin asked.

"Wow, even J can't sleep through something that big." Derek remarked.

"Wait, if we've never seen aliens, how could we know what an invasion looks like? Maybe it wasn't all that nominable."

Penelope typed a couple of sentences on her shiny new desktop. "It's _noticeable_, and there were giant rhombus eyes in the sky! How do you not notice that?"

Stella then pushed Beat and Rhyme to the stairwell. "Well anyways, you two have to go to your room now because we have to go do adult stuff outside, OK? Thanks for understanding!"

"But I'm not sleepy right now..." Rhyme retorted.

"Well, could you two at least stay in your rooms for a few minutes? After about 10 or so, you can come out of there."

"I guess I should obey my elders... Let's go, big bro."

* * *

10:30 pm, Guest Room...

"Rhyme, you awake?"

"Yeah?"

"Good. I'm getting a little hungry, so I'm going to go get a late night snack. Wanna come?"

"Sure. I was getting a little hungry anyways."

On the wall of the kitchen, Beat noticed a button.

"Hey, I never noticed _this _here before. I wonder what it does." Beat then inched his hand ever so close to the large black button.

Rhyme then charged at Beat. "Beat! You shouldn't just press every button you find!"

Sadly, it was too late. Beat pushed the button, opening a large trap door; the Bito siblings soon ended up in a small chrome room. In front of them was a large door and a computer screen.

"[[Identification please.]]" The computer said monotonously.

"What the hell are you!? Come and fight me!"

The screen of the computer then turned a bright red. "[['What the hell are you!? Come and fight me!' is not a valid name. Prepare to be euthanized.]]"

"Wait, wha-AAAGH!" Beat leapt backwards into a wall.

Rhyme began to panic. "Beat, no! -Coughs- Wait, what's happening? The room is filling up with gas!"

"Yo sis, is it me or are you feeling a little sleepy..."

The next day, J had opened the door, only to find the two unconscious.

The pompadour wearing foreigner, now in a fancy tuxedo, said, "Well, now we have a heck of a story to tell the Commander."

* * *

Notes:

-I chose "Kimi Monogatari" for this one because I always think of the onsen level when I think of both the song and the dojo, even though Hitomi Yaida is nowhere to be found in both.

-Not much else to talk about, really. As I said, R+R if you want improvement for later chapters!


	4. Within a Deep Game

Day 3 of the Reaper's Game...

"(Yawns) Isamu-kuuun! Wake up, you dummyhead!"

"What is it now, Keiko?" Isamu grumbled. He apparently didn't have a very good rest.

"It's already the 3rd day, Isamu-kun; we need to find out who those people were! We shouldn't waste a single minute now that you're up, so let's GO!!!"

"Come on, we didn't even get the mission yet. Besides, why do we even bother with this weird game anyways? For all we know, it could just be a bunch of sickos who want to waste our time by fooling us into thinking we were dead. Heck, I don't even care either way. At least not anymore..."

Keiko then slapped Isamu in the face. "HOW CAN YOU NOT CARE!? This is our LIFE we're talking about here, and you're just going to throw it away!? Look, I really care for you, and not just because we're partners. Besides, my phone is ringing right now; it's probably the mission." She then read the mail out loud. "Open all three gates. One should be right underneath your feet. The other two will be found when two stars cross paths when it's dark. Time limit: 1 hour. Fail, and face erasure."

"Fine, Keiko. But I really don't see the point in all this. So the gate is right underneath my feet, huh? I don't really see anything here." Isamu then found a large silver card, with the letters "[[GATE OPEN: SCRAMBLE CROSSING]]" engraved in huge letters. "Maybe this is the key to one of the gates the mail was talking about."

Keiko scratched her head in puzzlement. "I don't know what the card says. Well, you came back from America, right? So surely you must know what it says in English!"

"First of all, I came back from Brazil, which is in _South _America. Second, I can't understand English very well, but it does say '[[Open]].' The mail said that the **gate** would be right here, though..."

Keiko then saw what appeared to be a large drawing made of chalk. She saw the words "[[Create a very large space of time and gate. Is useful for world domination,]]" in the center of what appeared to be a swirling hole.

"This looks like the 'gate' we're supposed to activate, I guess. But how...?"

"Hey Airhead, look at this." There was a small chrome box next to the strange chalk drawing, with a slit on top. "Just enough to hold the card," he thought.

"Alright, let's see if it works..." Keiko slid the card into the box. Suddenly, the lines of the strange drawing began to glow, and a large portal rose from the ground.

Isamu stared at the portal. "I wonder what it does. It looks a little too small for us to go into, but maybe someone-"

"Or some_thing_."

"Or something a little shorter could pass." The teen then looked at his hand. "We still have a lot of time. What do you wanna do?"

"We need to complete the mission first, you know!"

"Well, you DID want to check out those guys that helped us at Molco."

"Well, only the pink-haired glasses girl noticed us, or at least helped us. But that's beside the point. What does it mean by 'when two stars cross paths in the dark'? By the time it's dark out, we would probably all be erased by now! And how would we find two stars in the middle of the afternoon anyways?"

"Maybe scanning can help us find clues." Isamu tapped the pin, revealing the thoughts around him. One thought read, "Star-crossed Rivals!"

"I can't believe it! The Prince's blog said that he and JIN2 were going to meet at A-East for 'something important'. I wonder what they're going to do in there... Wait, not like that! Naughty, naughty me!"

"Well, that was useful... And awkward." He thought.

"Hey, I just got a text! It says that I can imprint 'A-East' into people now!"

"Cool, let me try! Hmm... How about on the lady I just scanned?"

"No! We have to do our mission first, okay? And where should we start looking for the Prince anyways?"

"Well, I heard he really likes ramen. Maybe that Ramen Don place should give us clues."

"Good idea. Let's go!"

* * *

At the (thankfully repaired) Ouen Dojo...

"[[LUNCH TIME!]]" Suzuki yelled from afar.

"Alright, we're coming!" Sayaka yelled back.

"Not you guys, I mean lunch time for the pets!"

"Wait, you guys own pets?" Neku asked Sayaka.

"Well yeah! We own three, actually. Neko, our cat and personal mascot, which we got from Tan Yao after the meteor incident, Ami, the Noble team's purebred Maltese, and Sue, Rin's white rabbit, but it's basically owned by the Noble cheergirls."

"Speaking of lunch, where should we go to eat? I'm starved!" Ryuuta groaned.

"I heard there's a really nice restaurant not far from here. Maybe you've heard of it, Hayato-sempai?" Shinta asked politely.

"I did hear it was rather good. Do you want to come with us, Neku?"

"Thanks, but I just ate."

Reika opened the door. "Well, I'm going out now. Do any of you know some more nice places to eat ramen?"

Joshua then stood up and said, "Well, there's Ramen Don in Dogenzaka... Speaking of going out, I'm going to catch a little fresh air. I'll see you then!"

"Well, I guess I'm going to go to 104 today to get some new stuff." Shiki said, and left as well.

"Are you SURE you don't wanna come with us?" Ryuuta asked.

"On second thought... I'm going with Shiki."

Back at Dogenzaka, Reika had entered Ramen Don, not noticing the two Players outside.

"Hey, isn't that one of Pinktail's friends?" Isamu asked.

"I think so. She didn't seem to notice us, either. But why didn't they wonder why that lady was talking to us if they couldn't see us?

"I dunno. Either they thought she was daydreaming, or the princess-looking chick just didn't notice us."

It was then that Keiko noticed a Noise sneak up on Isamu. "Look out!"

"Oh come on, not this again!"

Inside ramen Don, Reika went up to Ken Doi and asked, "Umm... Could I please have some ramen?"

Ken Doi then turned to her and said, "Sure, what would you like? I've got lots of good food on sale!"

"Umm... I can't decide, they all look too good!"

Suddenly, a figure sat next to her. He looked rather regal, and had a good sense of fashion, to boot. "How about I choose for you?"

Reika didn't know who it was, so she let him keep talking. "We would like two bowls of Mystic Ramen, please."

"Excuse me... But who are you? I didn't think that strangers would just give people ramen like that."

"Oh, you don't know me? That's quite a rarity around this city. But then again, you don't look like you're from around here." He then looked at her unusually traditional clothes.

"Oh, these? I'm not used to wearing other types of clothes, really. In fact, I was pretty much raised like this."

"Here you go; two bowls of Mystic Ramen!" Ken Doi said proudly.

Reika then perked up considerably. "Great! I'm starved!"

A few minutes later...

Isamu lay down on the pavement. "What's taking them so long? Shouldn't they be done by now?"

"Maybe we should go inside to check on them."

"I guess that could work. Let's go."

Once they entered, they were rather shocked at the scene that unfolded. Both Reika and the man next to her were feverously eating the ramen in front of them, and it seemed like Reika was _winning_. "So, you know JIN2? No wonder why you look pretty fancy."

"You _really_ don't know who I am?" The man said before gulping down some more ramen.

Reika replied with her mouth full, "Nope. You do look incredibly familiar though."

"Another bowl, please! Anyways, have you ever heard of Eiji Oji, TV personality, internet superstar?

"I think some of my friends (munch) and that Misaki girl we invited (munch) know you."

"Ah, so you do know me (slurp), at least a little. But how come you (gulp) know JIN2 more than you do me? Aren't I the more famous one?"

"Well, let's just say that we got to meet him using a little 'help'..."

"Oh, that reminds me! I have to get to A-East, pronto!"

Reika then waved at him. "It's been a pleasure knowing you, Mr. Prince! Tell JIN2 the girls in Asahi say hi!"

"Oh yeah, I never did catch your name. What is it?"

"Reika. Reika Minazuki."

"Well, I'll see you later, Reika-san." He replied back to her.

Keiko stifled a yawn. "Well, finally!"

"Let's get on with the mission already." Isamu said unsympathetically.

"Wait, you two!" Reika shouted.

"Yes, what is it?"

"I was just wondering... When we met you at Molco, why did you suddenly disappear just after? It's like you just vanished out of existence... My friends and I were really worried about what happened to you!"

"Wait," Keiko thought. "So they did all notice us! But that just raises even more questions than before..." She did know one question she should ask first, however. "Minazuki-san, I just want to ask..."

"I have a question to ask you as well, and if my calculations are correct..."

Apparently, they were wondering the exact same thing, because their question to each other was this: "Just what exactly are you?"

At the Dead God's Pad...

"Ah, so you're here, Mr. Composer?"

"Of course I'm here, Masuyo. Why wouldn't I be watching my own Game?"

"Well, why aren't you interfering with my plan? You know _exactly_ who I'm working for, and that person isn't you."

"I have faith in this city of Shibuya now, and I think they would be beneath what kind of sick plan you and your corporation are thinking of. Besides, after some rather... _strange_ events, I've gotten a little _too_ used to being in the sidelines."

"Whatever you say, but remember this, Composer: I know exactly who you are in the RG. I could hunt you down and kill you right then and there, you know that?"

"Just try; we'll see who wins _that_ game. Just remember that I have friends in lower planes."

"I don't think I need an entry fee, do I?"

"Just keep this a secret between you and your boss. Is that a deal, Conductor? In fact, you could consider it more of a bet."

"It's a deal, Composer. Or should I say... Yoshiya Kiryuu?"

* * *

End of Chapter Notes:

-I think that Eiji x Reika would be awesome, because one's a prince and one's a princess, but not really. Both also have a strange fixation on ramen and one game references the other, so yeah!


	5. Nothing To Do With Ohio

_July 13__th__..._

_Mission: Annihilate the Composer._

_Time limit: 14 days._

_Entry fee: I cannot talk to anyone about this._

_Will I survive? Only He knows..._

Masuyo turned to the wall behind her. "I can see you there, Takehiko."

A man came out wearing a large vest and mittens, quite unusual for this weather. "I was just checking up on you, that's all."

"It's not very polite to sneak up on people, even if you do have good intentions. But I digress; it is fitting for your personality to do such things."

"The Tin Soldier... The Reaper who was able to erase 50 percent of all players in one day, almost acting like a cold, unfeeling machine... Isn't that all just a mask created by me?"

"Either way, I still enjoy your company. It's a little saddening to know that this is probably our last week together, though..."

"I'm sorry if this seems out of the blue, but how's your pet cat doing?"

"Oh, you mean Mr. Snuggles? He's doing great, rebellious as usual too. He's still making junk piles in my house and trying to play with his Alphabet Soup. It was kinda cute, but now it's really annoying."

"I guess the Composer's gifts are always this two-sided, huh?"

Masuyo looked into Takehiko's eyes with a piercing glare. Without it, nobody would have ever taken her seriously. "You and I should know that more than anything. Now shouldn't you be assigning a mission by now? I have some work to do."

"O-Of course, madam. Also, I finished making that special batch of Noise you wanted. What is it for, anyways? I'm pretty sure you and I could be punished by the Composer for this."

The small Conductor gave a sheepish laugh. "You probably shouldn't ask..."

* * *

Meanwhile, at EBA Tokyo Headquarters...

"[[Are you sure he's going to be all right?]]" Spin asked.

Missy went around to refilling the security system's cylinders. "[[Don't worry too much, Spin. I only installed knockout gas for the security system. Besides, we have a non-fatality policy around here, remember?]]"

"[[True, but what if they wake up right now? Sure we put them in the virtual-reality chamber just in case, but what's going to happen then? Shouldn't we have gotten them back upstairs?]]"

J put his arm around Spin's shoulder. "[[I _would _have, but the Commander wanted to examine our two guests. I don't know why though, they seem pretty normal to me. A stereotypical skater-brain and a kid who like to spout out some adages. What are their statuses, Foxx?]]"

"[[Hmm... Their vitals are perfectly fine, but there is something rather intriguing about their status. If I'm reading this correctly, these two siblings have more rhythmic output than most of our trainees! I haven't seen this much potential since you came along, J!]]"

Derek facepalmed, unsure whether to keep them or send them back to their own house. "[[This vacation keeps on getting stranger and stranger...]]"

* * *

Ouen Dojo, yet again...

Hayato opened the dojo entrance in an overtly dramatic fashion. "Everyone, I'm hoooome!"

Shinta then ran up to Hayato and glomped him. "Hayato-sempai, you're back! I missed you so much; I thought I was going to cry for a moment!"

"Haya-chan! Did you bring me anything from your trip?" Rin asked the flattened blonde.

Hayato then spoke, although it was a little strained due to the weight on his side. "Why yes I did, Rin. You did say that you wanted that new perfume, right?"

Just as he was about to get up (With Shinta still on him, too!) Rin went and glomped Hayato as well. "Oh, THANK YOU! I've wanted that perfume for AGES!

"It's... no problem, really." Just as Hayato was about done getting up again, no thanks to the two who were still on him, Adeleine had leapt right up to his face to lick it. He had lost balance yet again.

"I'm guessing this is what you have to go through every day, huh?" Joshua asked.

"Shut up, kid. Besides, danchou wants you three upstairs right now."

Shinta then slid himself off from Hayato, taking care not to ruin his clothes. "You wouldn't like danchou when he's angry, you know. So I think you should get up there. Seriously. **Right now**."

"It's an especially special request from Kaoru today. We even have a special guest!" Ryuuta said with a smirk.

"Alright, we're going." Neku groaned. Life in the dojo wasn't really all that bad, except for the times when he was invited by Kai and Kaoru for... "Special requests". Usually, they were either both really strange and hard to complete, "Gather all the cats in Tokyo!" "Cage this angry bear without hurting it!" or they could be just strange. "We're fishing for BOOTS!" "Win me this plushie!" Neku hoped it was more of the latter, because he couldn't handle trying to find the portal to Victorian-era England again.

"Hello, Mr. Kiryuuin? We're here..." What Neku saw however, shocked him beyond relief. The three teens were called for... a tea party. In the middle was Kaoru, in his military-style gakuran, with Kai right beside him. Kai was wearing a large blue bear suit and an equally large frown on his face. On the opposite end was Honoka, sharing some tea with her stuffed rabbit, Chaco, and was wearing a playboy bunny suit for the occasion. (Why would she wear something like that for THIS!?) What Neku wanted to know, however, was exactly _who_ this "Special guest" was...?

"Hello, children! Would you like to be in my tea party? I have special costumes for you!"

"Is that how Bunny-girl ended up in THAT?" Neku asked.

"No, I got it out of my own closet for the occasion!" Honoka said proudly.

Shiki became enthused. "I'll join! I mean, a party is always fun, don't you think Neku?"

"I'll join as well, Mr. Kiryuuin. Do you at least have a nice bunny suit for _me_?" Joshua asked.

"Of course, Joshua-san! In fact, the bunny suit over here was _especially_ made for you! Will you join as well, Sakura-kun?"

"First of all, my name is not 'Sakura-kun'. Second, why should I join your party anyways? Don't you have more important things to do, like train your guys?"

Suddenly, Hayato and Shinta went up the steps, in a vampire and puppy suit, respectively.

Hayato brushed his sleeve a little. "It seems that you have forgotten the meaning of a vacation, Sakuraba-san. We're not exactly here to work, although we will if called to the task. Also, the entire dojo was preparing for this occasion. It would be rather rude to miss something _everyone_ is joining in on. Even our American friends will arrive any minute now!"

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. "Don't worry, I'll get it!" Sayaka yelled from the ground floor.

Kai then stood up. "If you people have noticed, doesn't our guest look rather strange?"

Honoka tilted her head a little bit. "It does look really strange. Where did you find this bear, danchou?"

Neku was rather confused. He didn't see a bear at all, aside from the suit Kai was wearing. "Just outside the door, with a note attached to it."

"It _is_ a rather funny-looking bear. I certainly haven't seen one that large. And I don't think that bears with white fur normally occur in Japan." Joshua added.

Shinta stepped forward to look at what Neku thought was just Kaoru's cape. "I certainly never saw one that was partially made of tattoos, either."

To Neku, all the pieces started to fit together again. Invisible. Bear. Part tattoo. The fact that Neku couldn't see it just cemented the facts until there was no doubt in his mind.

"Then that bear... It must be a Noise! But what is it doing here? Aren't Noise supposed to only attack Players, and follow Reapers?"

Joshua began to (apparently) stroke the bear."Hmm... How awfully observant of you, Neku. I'm proud to know you still remember such facts. Kiryuuin-san, may I please see the note that came with this bear?"

"Of course, Joshua, here you go! I hope you have the information we need for this **fascinating** discovery!"

Neku gave himself a large facepalm. "What the hell is _wrong_ with these people? They're all messed up, aren't they?"

Joshua then began to read the note.

"Dear Composey, I just wanted to give you my ultra-sweet gift! Take-chan made this batch for me so we could play that game together, you know? He even made sure it only follows my orders, the cutie! So anyways, this Noise acts rather similarly to a Taboo- except that these can hurt RG people too. Be nice to it, okay?

Love, Masuyo-chan."

Shiki began to freeze, terrified of what was going to happen. "Wait, RG people? That means... Look out, guys!"

Suddenly, the bear leapt up to Neku and tore the headphones right out of his head.

"NOOOO! Do you know how much it cost just to find a pair just like that? I wish I were still dead, so I could beat the crap out of you!" he yelled at the room around him.

"WHAT IS UP WITH ALL THIS NOISE!?" Ryuuta yelled from the ground floor.

"Get up here Ippongi, we have a situation over here!" Hayato replied louldly.

"I'm right here, you know." Apparently, he had dressed as a werewolf to rival Hayato's vampire outfit, but it had created a weird parallel between him and Shinta.

"Well, could you HELP us? We're being attacked by a giant tattoo-bear."

"It's called a Grizzly, just to let you know." Shiki said, trying to block the invisible enemy.

"Well, this sucks. Does that mean that we have to do... that?" Kenshin asked, in a fancy suit that was almost exactly like an Agent's.

Rin also came up, this time in a cocktail dress. "I guess so. So much for that 'pacifism vow,' huh?"

Shinta gave a sheepish laugh. "That _does_ suck. I guess we're going to have to waste some energy after all..."

Ryuuta then gave the Grizzly a large uppercut. "That should take care of it, right?"

"About that... It's still intact, right?" Joshua asked.

"Wait, why should I-AAH!" Before he knew it, the grizzly leapt at the back of Ryuuta's head. Wounded, he finally stood up again. "It... Barely scratched him... That's okay, it was only a TEST!" The spiky-headed cheerleader then proceeded to beat the Grizzly up, until it fizzled into a pile of static.

"That should take care of that one, right?" Honoka asked.

Kaoru sniffled a little. "But that was _my_ bear..."

Joshua began to pat Kaoru a little. "Don't worry, sir. We'll get you a new bear soon, preferably one that won't kill us."

"I don't know if we can rest easy yet, guys. I can still feel some irregular activity near here..." Kenshin said.

Unfortunately, Kenshin was right. Suddenly, more Noise began to appear out of nowhere, with the same white fur as the Grizzly before it.

Kaoru grumbled a little, before standing up. "Well, I guess that we're going to have to expend some of our Ki. EVERYONE, INTO BATTLE POSITIONS! [[THIS IS A CODE BLACK SITUATION!]]" It seems that he wasn't elected Captain of the Asahi team for nothing. Just as he was finished speaking, everyone in the building, barring the pets of course, began to appear upstairs, in various costumes and states of undress.

"Ready when you are, danchou!"

"Alright, crew. We need to use what we've learned to fend off against this enemy. Focus all your Ki on your joints, extremities and vital organs!"

As all of the Ouendan were fighting, of the Neku began to feel rather irritated. "Focus, Neku! You should be able to sense where the Noise are. Just focus..." Suddenly, he could feel where one of them was about to strike. There were six more of them, two Corehogs and four Jellies, actually. "Look out, Shiki! There's one right behind you, can you sense it?"

"Actually, I think that I'm starting to get the hang of finding Noise again." Shiki said while dodging the Jellies that were right behind her. "Problem is, how are we going to fight them? We certainly can't be dead weight, you know. _Especially_ since we have some of the closest ties to the Composer."

Suddenly, like a god out of the machine, Stella burst right through the floor on a jetpack. She was holding three watches in her hand, with some circuitry embedded in the straps. "Hey you three, catch! We made these specifically for you."

Joshua threw his watch back. "No thank you, miss. I've got... _special means_ to fight these guys." The white-haired boy then rose up and started to zap the Noise around him with columns of holy light.

"What are you doing?! I thought you weren't supposed to use Jesus Beams in front of people!" Shiki cried, while trying to figure out what the watch was for.

"It's okay, kiddies. We can keep a secret, you know." Stella said, almost letting go of her jetpack's handles. "Anyways, the handy device I gave you can turn the Soul inside you into whatever suits you best. It amplifies it, you see, and the rest should flow naturally. I could give an in depth explanation, but you're going to have to try it yourself. Laters!"

"[[Wait, Stella! Can't you at least help us with our problem?]]" Aoi said, while punching one of the Jellies in Victorian-era undergarments. By the looks of it, she was trying to stuff her bra as well.

"[[Keep your britches on, Aoi Heterodyne. I keep my special gun in case of situations like these.]]" Starr then landed on the ground, whipped out a cheesy-looking handgun from her belt, tied the red string near the handle to her wrist, and began to shoot the Corehogs.

Neku began to take a second glance at the watch. "I guess I better see what this can do." He then took out the Black Planet set from one of his pouches, placed them on him, and as told, tried to do what was natural to him. He was a little rusty after quite a while, but he could still feel the motions needed to activate the pins.

"Look out, the quills are about to explode!" Shiki cried from across the room. Thankfully, the room on the upper floor was large enough to have probably held a miniature gym before, so everyone had more than enough room to dodge the explosive quills. Shiki began to put Groove Pawn on her jacket and saw Mr. Mew float a couple of inches. "Do your thing, Mr. Mew!" she cheered.

"This isn't working too well, Shiki, the Jellies keep multiplying! Do you think that the Fusion Pin might work?"

"I don't know Neku, let's see for ourselves! Maybe you can help us too, Joshua!"

"It wouldn't hurt to try. Don't worry about the pact; I made it while you two were still fighting."

Neku spoke to Joshua in a rather sarcastic tone. "Thanks for the heads-up. We're probably going to have to sync with each other more, so let's keep fighting!"

A moment later, the Fusion Pin began to show a new pattern. "Hey, I think we can use it now!" Shiki said to Neku while trying to keep Mr. Mew up. She then initiated using it, with the phrase, "Let's rock!"

Joshua spoke next, in a rather bored tone. "Are you ready for it?"

Neku then delivered the finishing line. "Ready when you guys are!"

Once Neku was finished speaking, they performed their attack. Multiple Mr. Mews were raining down from the sky, clawing out all the Noise in a few seconds. Quite a few people were shocked, and it wasn't just the Ouendan who were in disbelief.

Shiki for one was rather excited. "We... actually did it, Neku! We beat the Noise!"

Stella was rather sceptical about the whole thing. "Come on, you're acting like you've never done it before. Judging by your exposition, I'm pretty sure you had at least some experience with this. And judging by you and your friends' rhythmic output..." She then took out an EMP-style device and pointed it towards Neku and company. "It seems that those two under our care have been subjected to this kind of special training too. We found out by doing some research in our spare time, and we uncovered some... _interesting_ things."

Neku was a little cross regarding Starr's attitude towards the whole thing. "First of all, it wasn't 'special training' at all. We actually had to fight for our lives during that one week. And because of _some people_, I had to face that ordeal _three times in a row_. Secondly, what did you do with Beat and Rhyme?"

The blonde, in a strangely revealing outfit, was appalled. "We didn't do anything. They got into an accident inside our house, and the Agency HQ already has an infirmary, so..."

"That just brings me to my third point. How did you guys get so much high-tech gadgets? From what I heard, you guys are just Americans spending their vacation somewhere familiar, due to family ties. Hearing about this Agency is making me a bit too suspicious..."

Stella gave a sigh. It seemed like one of frustration and of relief at the same time. "I guess the cat's out of the bag now, huh? My name actually is Stella Lindhurst, but most folks who have heard of us call me Agent Starr. I actually come from a very special Agency. There have been rumours about us on the Internet, some true, some false. What all can agree on however, is that we are the source of the mysterious people who are ready to give help to anyone who asks for it- the Elite Beat Agents."

Joshua crossed his arms. "I knew that."

Neku grumbled. "Of course you did, Joshua."

* * *

A plot develops! What exactly is Masuyo aiming for? Just what exactly is Mr. Snuggles? What happened to Moo Moo Corporation? Find out next chapter! (Or not, I just can't tell.)

Notes of Justice:

-July 28th is a VERY important day for the Ouendan. How would they have existed otherwise?

-Mr. Snuggles is one of the TWEWY "special characters". That means he comes from TWEWY, and he's "special". Any questions?

-I can't help but imagine Kaoru being voiced by Norio Wakamoto now. "ALL HAIL BRITISHLAND!" or something like that.


	6. Flashback Time!

Neku gave all the Ouendan an incredibly puzzled look. "Alright, you're telling me that you were affiliates with these guys _all along_?"

"No," Ryuuta grumbled, crossing his arms. "In fact, we were actually rivals until quite recently. But that isn't important now, because _apparently,_ there's some weird stuff going on in Tokyo."

Starr then pulled out what looked like a miniature high-tech projector out of her belt. "We'll just show you why we're here." She then turned the projector on, displaying a large hologram of Commander Khan.

The holographic visage of Khan began to speak. "Okay, men... I'm going to brief you on the basics of being an Agent..."

Starr quickly turned off the projector, nearly going into a panic. "Wait, this is the training video! I accidentally got the wrong tapes!" She began to yell down the hole in the floor. "Foxx, do you have the briefing video with you?"

Foxx came up the stairs, with a briefcase in hand. "Of course I do," she said plainly. "In fact, here's one of my spares." She then tossed a small chip from her briefcase towards Starr.

"Thanks! Now we can actually start the briefing..." Starr swapped the chip in the projector with the one in her hand, being careful not to damage anything. "This should do the trick! Time to turn it on."

Once again, the projector displayed another image, this time of a large shadow of a man, in a pose not unlike Khan's. The figure's rectangular glasses were glowing, and he had horn-like protrusions on his head. "This, my friends," Starr said, pointing at the shadowy figure, "Is the CEO of Moo Moo Corporation. They've been trying to control the world using increasingly unorthodox methods for as long as we could remember. Their previous tactics were botched with a good song and dance, but now they've gotten too out of hand."

Joshua raised his hand. "This might seem like a wild guess, but does this new plan involve the new breed of Noise Masuyo told us about?"

"That's probably not it. We've done some research however, and discovered these 'gates' all across the world. It seems that there are 3 located in Shibuya, and a few more lay around in Tokyo." Starr then pointed her gun at Reika. "It seems that you have a question too. What is it?"

"Umm... Yesterday, I saw those two people we helped at Molco, and they said they were Players or something like that. They also mentioned trying to open the three gates that you were talking about and I got to have a good look at them."

Starr's face began to beam a little. "Really? Could you tell us about your experiences? It would really help us if you told us as much as you can."

"O-okay... I'll see what I can remember. It all started when the Prince left Ramen Don..."

* * *

"So, you're telling me that you and your friends are **cheerleaders**? And you guys can naturally see dead people?" Keiko asked.

"Well, it's not that outrageous when you think about it... How come you have the ability to purchase items from shops, if you have clearly stated that you are deceased?"

"We don't know how everything works in this Game, but we heard it was because of the decals at the front of certain shops."

Isamu tapped Keiko's shoulder gently. "Keiko-san? Isn't it time for us to get to A-East?"

"Right! I had almost forgotten about going there! Would you like to come with us, Miss Minazuki?"

"Of course! I would love to join you two."

"Thanks! Now let's get to A-East, pronto!"

When we went around Dogenzaka, I thought, "It's rather unfortunate, really. I don't want to take advantage of these two, but I guess it's for the greater good."

As we ran, Isamu said something was stinging him. "Ow! It seems that there's a barrier set up here." He then pointed to me while I was preparing to do our famous Nobility Kick. "Anyways, what's she trying to do?"

A few seconds later, I stopped what stretching, ran right up to the barrier, and gave it the largest kick I've ever attempted.

"You didn't tell us you people could do THAT!" Keiko yelled, pointing at the shattered barrier pieces as they disappeared.

I began to flatten my hair and straighten my curls. "You didn't ask."

Just as we were about to enter A-East, a figure wrapped his arm around me. It was incredibly warm, and smelled of expensive cologne. It had to be the Prince. "Hey, what are you doing here?"

"Oh hi again, Mr. Prince! We just wanted to see you play Tin Pin today..." I said, shy as ever.

"Is that so? We should probably get to know each other a little more first, this match is strictly private-"

Suddenly, a dazzling figure stepped out of A-East, in a pose that could only be described as "over the top." "Don't worry about it, Oji-san! She's with me."

Keiko flew into a rage. "JIN2!? How DARE you call the Prince an old man!"

"Calm down, miss. Of course there's going to be some mocking between us. Anyways Oji-san, should we get started? If you win, you can have my Love Rabbit!" JIN2 said in a mocking tone.

"Like I'd want that piece of garbage," the Prince said. "Everyone knows my Lucky Lady is superior."

When they entered A-East, JIN2 slammed his hand on the Tin Pin table. "Well, you might have a better pin, but I can probably trump you in skill!"

"Let's settle this rivalry once and for all, Hoshikawa-bozu." Once he said this, the Prince launched his pin. "Let's win, Lucky Lady!"

"I guess it's time to rock the house! Show this old man how it's done- Love Rabbit!"

Isamu sat in a corner, not far from where the two idols were playing. "They're pretty enthusiastic when it comes to Tin Pin, don't you think, Keiko?"

They're probably too energetic for their own good," Keiko replied smarmily. "I knew lots of idols had really big egos, but this is a little ridiculous!"

"At least we found the two gates that the mail was talking about..." Isamu mused.

"And there are two boxes supporting the Tin Pin table... Maybe they have the keys?"

"Wait," I thought. "Gates... Keys... Is this the conspiracy that Mr. Chieftain briefed us on? Maybe I should check... But that would be rude, wouldn't it? Never mind that, the world could be in danger if we let this remain unattended!" I started to shift my glasses into "camera" mode (Thanks for that mod, Aoi!) and took pictures of the two boxes supporting the table. Thankfully, it was set to "see invisible objects" by default.

"Uwaaagh, I lost! I guess you are the better man when it comes to Tin Pin, Oji-san!"

The Prince gave JIN2 a playful smirk. "See? I told you that I was the better player. Now how about some ramen to celebrate my win, huh?"

JIN2 then walked with the other blonde idol, in a slump of defeat. "I really hate you sometimes, Oji-san... But you have to admit, I'm the better singer."

Keiko wobbled the Tin Pin table, sliding the two boxes out from under it. "Here you go Isamu-kun. I think the keys are in here."

"Thanks, Keiko." Isamu opened the boxes, revealing two keys that read: "A-EAST KEY". He inserted them into their respective portals, which were on opposite corners of the building. After doing this, there was a great tremor that nearly toppled all of us.

I began to scramble to the nearest wall, keeping my glasses on. "Wh-what's happening? Nobody told me that this would happen!"

"Keiko, hold on!" Isamu yelled, trying to shield her from the impact.

Thankfully, the tremor didn't last long. "What was that?" I asked, hoping to illicit a response.

"I think it's a side effect of opening these things," Keiko said, still trying to figure out everything.

I then gave a small sigh of disappointment, for being unable to figure out anything from these two. "I guess it is..."

Suddenly, Ryuuta came along, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "HEY, MINAZUKI! DID YOU GET YOUR OUTFIT FOR KIRYUUIN-DANCHOU'S TEA TASTING CEREMONY YET?"

I waved at him, just so he could see me. "Actually, yes I did, Ippongi-san! Thank you for caring though!"

Strangely enough, Keiko's face began to twist into a mixture of denial and hate. She was so overwhelmed, that I found her impossible to read...

* * *

Reika paused for a moment, unsure if she wanted to continue on with the story.

Starr had a look of sheer excitement on her face. "Continue on, I want to hear more!"

"But... the next part might bring back some bad memories from a few of our friends here..." Reika said, looking sympathetically at Ryuuta.

"It's okay, Minazuki-san. I think that everyone here should know the whole story."

"If that's okay with you, Ippongi-kun. As I was saying..."

* * *

Keiko slowly went up to Ryuuta, tears streaming down her eyes. "You... why the hell are you here?"

"Whaddaya mean? I don't even know who you-"

"DON'T PLAY DUMB WITH ME, YOU BASTARD!" Keiko then proceeded to punch Ryuuta repeatedly, to no avail.

Isamu could only stare in horror in response to what he was witnessing. Gathering up his courage, he began to restrain her. "Keiko, what are you doing!? You shouldn't just punch strangers like that!"

"He's not a stranger, Isamu. In fact, I can still remember that day, 10 years ago... Do you remember it as well, with your smug expression and incredible ego? The day when you saved absolutely no one? I lost pretty much almost every family member I knew! Did you even CARE that so many lives were lost because of your pride?"

"Look... I admit it was my fault. I was new to the entire 'hot-blooded motivation' thing, and I underestimated the devastation that would follow. But please, it's been a decade. I just met you today, and it's not very polite to start off meetings with a grudge. So can you forgive me, and start over?"

Isamu had slowly let go of Keiko. While she was a lot more mellowed out than before, was still a little shaken by the encounter. "Starting over... isn't an option. I'm not ready to forgive my sister's murderer just yet, especially when she hasn't forgiven me..."

The redheaded cheerleader then stood up, brushing the dust off his shirt. He rested his hand on Keiko's shoulder and said, smiling, "Then give it some time. Maybe one day, your sis will forgive you, and we'll be on equal terms."

Keiko slowly let out a smile. It didn't seem entirely sincere, but she was trying her best. "Maybe one day, I'll be able to trust others. But for now, I simply can't trust others to help me with my problems..."

* * *

"And... that's all I know!" Reika concluded, in a strangely cheery voice.

"So... what _did_ happen 10 years ago?" Neku asked. As he said those words however, all of the Yuuhi boys began to look away. (Except for Hajime, who was just as confused as everyone else.)

"I guess it would be natural not for you kids to know," Kai said, and stepped forward. "You were only toddlers back then, anyways. You see, 10 years ago, Ryuuta, Suzuki, Saito and I were part of a different, much larger Cheer Squad. Ryuuta was one of our most prodigal rookies, and that naturally inflated his ego quite a bit.-"

"I wasn't _that_ egotistical," Ryuuta said in defence.

Kai gave Ryuuta a sly smirk. "Oh yeah? Who was the new kid who volunteered to do most of the cheers _by himself_?"

"Okay, okay. So maybe the power went to my head a little bit..."

"See my point now? So one day, we had an extra urgent mission: to stop a speeding train. It was going along rather well, until that one fateful error, one that cost us the lives of many people..."

Hayato scoffed at the redhead. "Only you would do something so tactless."

"Be quiet, Saionji! Can't you see that this is a serious moment, here?" Anna reprimanded. "I thought you were a little better at reading the atmosphere."

"Don't worry, not everything that came out of it was bad," Kai said. "In fact, if it weren't for that fateful day, we wouldn't have formed this squad, and therefore meet all of you people!"

Looking around, Neku saw that things would have ended up much different without the Ouendan. In that room, you could see people of different pasts, appearances, and personalities simply bonding together for the sake of bonding. Sure, there was a lot of bickering at times, (Especially between Ryuuta and Hayato, from which team cheers better to the best game show on MHK.) they still got together and practically acted like- dare I say it, a **family**.

Kaoru smiled, marvelling at the maturity of the same people he thought acted no better than children. "Now that all's said and done, does anyone want tea? I still have a thermos of the stuff I brewed today!"

If anything could lighten up the mood in this place, it would be a cup of Kaoru's special tea. "Can I get the first cup?" Ryuuta asked, running to the kitchen.

Shiki then looked at Neku, who was just smiling in the background. "You seem a lot happier than usual."

"Maybe I've just gotten used to these guys, even if they are kinda weird."

"Well, if we've ever learned anything, it's that weirdos can sometimes make the best of friendships," Shiki said, giving Neku a kiss on the lips.

Neku thought to himself, his cheeks turning a rosy hue, "Maybe this wasn't so bad after all,"

* * *

More notes!

-Oji-san means "old man". -bozu is an honorific meaning "kid" or "brat", and Hoshikawa is JIN2's surname.

-This is Ouendan; even a princess like Reika can break down Level 4 barriers. (But rookies can only just barely break one that's Level 2.)

-JIN2's pin is a reference to "Music Hour," the song/level he stars in. (Ooh, let's get to your love!) I really love that level...

-Also, Shiku shipping FTW!


	7. Daisukenojo Something

"But ma, I'm trying my best..." Beat mumbled in his sleep, oblivious to where he was.

"[[Aww, isn't that so cute? He's dreaming about his family.]]" Starr said dotingly. She had just come back from the dojo. (But not without helping the Ouendan repair it, of course.)

J dropped the stack of papers he was holding on his foot. "[[Starr? How'd you get back here so quick?]]"

The blonde rolled her eyes, pulling out a small red box with a black button on it. "[[I teleported. What else could I have used?]]"

J scratched the side of his head, being careful not to ruin his carefully-sculpted hairdo. "[[I dunno, you could have driven back.]]"

"[[I didn't drive to get there, J. I used jetpack.]]"

Chieftain picked up J's papers. "[[Then you could have used those! What's so wrong about being practical once in a while? Besides, we can only use the teleporter for emergencies, remember?]]"

"[[Derek said that Fredrick's hair was on fire last week, does that count?]]"

While they were talking, Missy walked into the room, goofy grin and all. "[[Oh, you mean that kid from the Northern Division? I hear that he had to wear a wig, just so that we wouldn't mistake him for that Tsuyoshi dude, you know?]]"

Foxx continued to focus on her laptop. "[[Besides, I wouldn't dote on his family life if I were you... It seems that his grades were far below average, and that's not the strangest part...]]"

Starr gave Foxx a small pout. "[[Come on, tell us what's wrong! It can't possibly be _the_ weirdest thing we've ever experienced. A normal mission for us means that we have to _travel the world,_ for crying out loud!]]"

"[[Well... They're supposed to be dead.]]"

"[[That's it? I thought they would be something interesting, like time-travelling aliens with psychic powers.]]"

"[[Seriously? I think you've been watching your sister's anime stash again. And they're not even ghosts like the previous few we've seen, anyhow. They're in the Examination Room right now, in the flesh. I must either have the worst record site in the world, it's all a conspiracy, or they really did reincarnate...]]"

Only moments later, Beat woke up, arms stretching toward the sky. The very first things he saw were a few bright lights atop a plain white ceiling. Wondering where he was, he shoved off the linen bedsheets that covered him up, and went to search for Rhyme in the large white room.

"Sis? Are you still in here? Are you even here at all? If any of you sickos lay a hand on her, I'll-"

A lone figure leaned by the door, in a neat black tux, holding a glass of wine in his left hand. "Don't worry kid, we didn't do anything with your little sis. In fact, she's right outside, in the Research and Development room."

"Hey, aren't you that Elliot dude from yesterday?"

"What do you mean, yesterday? You've been asleep for two days already. Thankfully that knockout gas was only temporary, or else we might have left you alone in there while we went overseas, or we might have actually _taken_ you overseas."

"But why? What's so important that you would want me an' sis overseas?"

"Well, it seems that you're a little bit more... _special_ than we anticipated. We've only had a handful of people with this much potential in our Agency before, myself included."

"[[Oh please, J. Everyone knows that you're still not as experienced as you make yourself out to be. Why do I even bother with you in the first place?]]"

"Shut up, Starr. You know it's because of my charm."

"[[Don't switch languages on me just because you think I'm too slow to understand! The Central Division is fluent in Japanese, you know.]]"

"Can I just go see my sis now?" Beat asked.

J tapped the titanium door behind him. "Sure, kid. The Research and Development room is right outside this one, 3rd door to the left. You can't miss it."

After a few minutes of meandering around the narrow hallway, Beat finally found the R and D room, marked in English lettering. On the outside, it looked rather dull, with a small wooden door and a plain circular knob. At first, Beat thought that J gave him directions to the wrong room, and that this was some sort of closet or something. Hoping for the best, Beat opened the door, unsure of what to expect.

Inside the room, Beat saw an incredibly spacious room, filled to the brim with top-secret technologies. The staff inside wore lab coats over their normal outfits, remaining silent. The few words they did say to each other were in a language Beat couldn't understand, probably English. In the distance, Rhyme was standing next to a large metal sphere in what appeared to be a small glass chamber. "Hey, bro! What are you doing here today?"

"Wha-Rhyme! What are you doing in there!? That could be dangerous, you know!"

One of the staff members stood in front of Beat, obscuring his view. "[[You need not worry, Mr. Daisuke-]]"

"Don't say it, yo."

"[[Fine, Mr. Bito. I certain that your sister will not die. She is only voyeur to the items.]]"

"Wait, what? Your Japanese is even worse than mine."

The staff member cleared her throat and said, "I apologize. [[BA-2? Can you please clarify our rules and regulations to this young delinquent? Also, we do not permit smoking in this facility, and _especially_ not in this room.]]"

It seems that J had entered the room to check on Beat while he wasn't looking. "Lighten up a little, Freya. The translators aren't perfect, you know. I thought that you'd love to go overseas with us! Maybe it's just because you want to go play with some more toys, huh?"

Freya gave J a mild scowl. "I go to university at the age of 14, get a master's degree in computer sciences, join a top-secret organization led by a former CIA member, and this is the thanks I get?"

"That's how life works, Frey."

Frustrated, Freya went back to her station, leaving J to continue explaining things. For a cheerleader, he did a pretty good job of annoying everyone around him.

She turned back to J, and grumbled, "[[Just to tell you, there is a difference between Freya and Frey.]]"

The redhead smiled at Beat. "Good ol' Freya. She always had her head in her work, never taking time to actually look at the things around her, making her perfect for the R and D room. I hear that Derek tried to give her flowers yesterday. Not that I don't think she's pretty, it's just that I prefer a girl like Starr, myself. Maybe it would be kinda cute to see those stiffs together though-"

Even Beat got a little irritated. "Could you just get my sis outta there!?"

"Sorry, kid. I always did have this knack for annoying the hell out of everyone around me when I talk. But you shouldn't worry too much about your little sis; the device over there is completely harmless."

"What does it do?"

Rhyme waved at her little brother. "Don't worry, I'm perfectly fine. Missy-san said that it won't fall down and crush my foot!"

Now that she mentioned it, Beat notice that the metal sphere was _floating._ And now Rhyme was right on top of it.

"Bwagh! H-how did you get up there?" he hollered.

"Gravity fields," Missy stated from afar. "We were going to install them on our robotic penguins so our rookies wouldn't fall off. You wanna try?"

Even though he didn't know exactly what it meant, Beat charged into the glass room, bruising his arm in the process.

"Hey, what's the big deal? I thought you said that I could come in!"

"Umm... Did you try opening the door?"

"Oh, right. I forget these kinds of things sometimes. I'm coming for you, Rhyme!" He yelled while opening the door.

"[[Are you sure this'll be all right, Miss?]]" J asked.

"[[Of course I do. It's already been thoroughly tested, and all we needed were some human test subjects...]]"

"[[Well, that's pretty- wait, WHAT!? Are you kidding me? We can't have some random kids dying on us today!]]"

"[[But Foxx said they were already dead, right? So a little experimentation couldn't hurt...]]"

"[[_Yeah, _but they're ALIVE right now! Do they look like ghosts to you? They even got re-adjusted to living! Just because they died once, doesn't mean that you can kill them again!]]"

"[[I guess you're right. But if they really did die once, that just raises even more questions, you know?]]"

J simply shrugged at Missy. "[[Eh, I don't think you should worry about it too much, Miss. You remember our mantra, right?]]"

"[[Of course I do! 'Go with the flow, and let your feet do the rest!']]"

"[[Umm... Never mind, then.]]"

After a few minutes of toying with the Gravity Ball, the two Bito siblings were ready to leave Tokyo HQ. While wandering around the hallway, Rhyme asked J, "I've been wondering for quite some time now, but how are you able to speak Japanese so well?"

"You see," J explained, "You see, we had to learn because of some legal disputes with the Ouendan a few years ago. The two Lindhursts taught us everything we know about Japan, and our Commander gave us some communication tips, too."

"It wasn't very easy to do, you know," Starr said behind a corner. "One time, J spilled some rice porridge on Khan's computer, and the entire Central HQ shut down! Good thing _someone_ knew how to restore the power." She then pointed to Foxx, who was in another room.

"What? We were having lessons on congee, weren't we?"

"_Kanji_, J. Anyways, I got to see the test results, and you did great! Here's a special gift for you guys." Starr handed Beat a large box, which about the same size as two skateboards. "It's our new prototype, 'Beat Transport Number 46: Mellisa!'"

Curious as to what a "Beat Transport" was (Could it carry Rhyme, too?) Beat quickly opened the package, revealing two incredibly stylized skateboards with a small box on each of their undersides.

"We thought that you could put it to good use, seeing how good you were with actual skateboards." Starr said, grinning. "Just remember, by accepting this gift, you hereby accept that any damage to this prototype is your responsibility, and you'll be monitored regularly for security purposes. Other than that, use it as much as you like!"

Rhyme began to examine her board. "Wow, these are really neat!"

"Hey, it's just like a skateboard! On wheels! Except smoother!" Beat hollered.

"Aww..." Starr sighed. "Don't you just feel like taking them home, J?"

"Considering the things we've went through together, the Agency practically _is_ our home."

Things were going pretty well as the Bito siblings went to search for an exit, until suddenly...

"Freeze or we'll shoot!"

"Wait, what was that!?" Starr cried.

While nobody was looking, a group of people wearing armoured vests and cow masks had ambushed them, pointing their guns at J, Starr, and the Bito siblings.

"Hey, you two! Get out of here as fast as you can!" Starr demanded. "We'll provide a distraction, so don't worry about us!"

"But-"

"Don't worry! Just go, or they'll catch you!"

"[[Hey, ya think it'd be a good time to show off our new moves?]]" asked J.

"[[It would certainly be good practice,]]" Starr said, with a hand on her hip.

While the Bitos hastily ran toward the exit, J began yelling at the guards to distract them. "Hey, beefheads! Before you guys shoot us, you wanna see a show?"

Before the mooks could reply, the two Agents immediately sprung into a position reminiscent of a couple doing the tango. Gazing deeply into each other's eyes, they began to move, swiftly, yet fluidly among the small armada that surrounded them.

"What the hell are they doing?" one of them asked.

"I think they're... dancing!"

"Well, I think it's kinda cool!" another commented.

"It kinda makes you wanna..."

"Say a bunch of cross-cultural references?"

"Play all the Ouendan games?"

"Kill a kitten?"

The leader began to feel agitated by his underlings' rambling. "NO! I meant dance, you idiots!"

A few Cow Masks began to dance to the beat, ignoring their leader's orders not to.

"Hey, is it just me or do you kinda feel like sleeping right now..."

Shocked, the lead mook reached toward her mesmerized comrade. "Wait, what are you doing, Number 48!? Don't drop your gun-ooh, can I join too?" Before long, all of the armada either got too caught up dancing, or passed out from exhaustion to notice that the Agents already stopped their dancing long ago, and were pushing them into the ocean on a raft.

"[[Don't you think that's a little... cruel, Starr?]]" asked Spin.

"[[Don't worry, they had walkie-talkies. Besides, that exit leads to a dock, so people would notice them sooner or later.]]"

"[[Whatever you say, Starr. Whatever you say...]]"

Meanwhile, at the Dojo...

Joshua stood behind one of the dojo's many large windows, contemplating what to do next.

"It seems like only yesterday that I had a bet like the one I'm in right now... Staying here would be far too dangerous. However, I still need to keep in touch with the UG. The Conductor isn't an option, but I can still communicate with some of the high-ranking Officers. Say, that kind of gives me an idea..."

He was going to leave, until he heard the door open. "Joshua-san? Is that you?"

The silver-haired teen turned around, seeing what appeared to be a brunette wearing some rather frilly nightwear.

"Oh, I didn't know that you were still awake, Kikuchi-san."

"I thought that you would be asleep as well."

Smiling, Joshua stared at the sky, which was as clear as glass that night. "Sometimes, I like to stare at the moon. It gives me a sense of tranquility. Isn't that why you're here?"

"I do admit that the moon gives off a rather calming vibe. It reminds me of that fateful day, so very long ago... But how did you know that I enjoyed viewing it?"

The teen giggled. "I just have a talent for knowing these kinds of things. Which reminds me, could you give this letter to Neku tomorrow?" He then handed a small envelope to Shinta, with a small heart sticker to seal it.

"But why? Aren't you here until the 28th?"

"Oh, that's just a secret between me and Neku. Anyways, would you be so kind as to turn around for a moment?"

"Of course, but why do you want me to turn-"

As he said those few words, a loud _whoosh _was heard throughout the room. When he turned back, he realized that Joshua was gone, leaving the window wide open and curtains flowing in the breeze.

Frustrated, he thought to himself, "Why do I always have to be so gullible?"

* * *

Suzuku! (To be continued, or something.)

Author's notes:

-I think I want to introduce some OTO 1 side characters (like Torao, Ryuuji, Ryoko...)

-I need to learn how to make good fight scenes. _Especially_ considering what I'd have to do for the final chapters...

-What's Joshua's great idea? Hint: It probably involves two very familiar Reapers who may or may not be Officers right now. Another group of "special characters" from TWEWY.

-TWEWY won't be alone in having "special characters," you know. A reporter, a detective, schoolchildren, robots... Anything's possible!


	8. Dragged By a Dream

"_Koki... Koki Kariya... Today is a very important day."_

Awakened by those very lines, Kariya reluctantly dragged himself out of bed, reaching for his glasses on the nightstand. Making sure he was absolutely ready for work, the recently-promoted Officer grabbed one of his favourite bean paste lollipops before heading out to meet with Uzuki, who was already at the bus stop.

"What took you so long? I was just about ready to leave without you."

Kariya began to slowly unravel the plastic around his lollipop. "Hey, a guy's gotta have things picture perfect before he leaves, and who would I be without my bean paste pop?"

"I guess you do have a point there... We should probably go do some work, or the GM's gonna freak."

* * *

At the Scramble...

Keiko was sitting dead center in the Scramble. "Yesterday was a rather strange day, wasn't it? As if I would forgive him like that."

"But why didn't you? It's already been a long time ago, and we already make a good team."

"I guess we do, but weren't you the one who asked me to be your partner? It was really awkward, seeing someone as cold-looking as you go up to me and ask. Most people would think it's the other way around."

"Well, I believe everyone deserves a chance to be with someone. And I don't think I'm _that_ cold looking..."

"Thanks Isamu. That reminds me, how did you end up here? You're filthy rich, yet you dress in rags..."

Before he could reply, Isamu heard his phone ring. "Must be the mission mail."

"Hmmm... Mission: Make everyone at Towa Records stop and smell the exhibits. Time Limit: 45 minutes. Fail, and face erasure."

"A 'brand new exhibit,' huh? I wonder what they mean by that."

"We won't know until we get there, right?" Keiko asked.

"I guess so. Say, why don't we use your scooter? We only used it on the first day, and we might find some Noise that'll give us some more Yen."

Keiko reached inside her backpack to get her scooter. Once she was done folding it out, she carefully got on it, asking Isamu to grab on to her as tightly as he could.

"You know, I never realized this before, but your skin's really smooth, you know that?" he asked.

"You seriously think so? I never thought that you'd notice. I try to take really good care of my skin, so nobody notices how dirty my hands are by the end of the day."

Just as they were about to leave, they were blocked by two distinct-looking Reapers. One of them, a young lady with bright pink hair said to the other, "Looks like we found two very unlucky Players today, Kariya."

The other Reaper was a man with orange hair, a parka and an incredibly distinct-looking lollipop in his right hand. "You know, they seem really familiar to me for some reason..."

"Well, we don't really have much time for noticing resemblances, now do we? It's too bad we never got to really know you, but life just sucks like that. You guys are toast!"

Sucked into the Noise plane, Isamu and Keiko got into their battle positions, facing a couple of Popguins. Scooter in hand, Keiko tried to get herself fired up, with Isamu following suit.

"I'LL KILL YOU ALL!"

"It's time to say goodbye."

Isamu charged towards the Popguins before planting his hand on the ground, lifting himself up and delivering a kick right in the center of the leader's stomach. "Time to take the show, Keiko!"

"Thanks, Isamu!" The ginger-haired girl got on her scooter and pulled out an aerosol can full of red paint, shaking the can and drawing a neat circle right next to her. "Time to let some sparks fly!"

When she was finished, an electric ball the size of Keiko's head began to circle around her. Taking advantage of this, she zoomed across the rest of the Popguins, giving them a shock that could probably paralyze a person. Isamu finished the fight by lighting all the Noise on fire.

"Alright, we did it! That wasn't so hard, now was it?"

"Surely you've created much worse nuisances during your Harrier days," the auburn-haired teen noted.

"How did you know that we're not just random Harriers?" Uzuki asked.

"I overheard some conversation between two Support-type guys about 'Officers out for our blood' while we woke up. Afterwards, they warned us about a guy with a lollipop and a girl with bright pink hair. Honestly? I don't think you two are all that intimidating."

"What do you mean, NOT INTIMIDATIONG? We're practically two of the most feared Reapers in Shibuya, right below the Game Master himself-"

"Just calm down, Uzuki, they are only Players after all. How would they know about Reaper society?" Kariya made his way leisurely to Isamu's ear. "Listen, kid. If there's one thing you do NOT want to do during this Game, it's angering the top brass around here. We might not look too intimidating, but I know a few people who are a lot more experienced than you think, and they'd be pretty happy to erase you in a heartbeat." Moving past the younger man, he turned and gave a smug, yet strangely sincere grin. "If you would just apologize, I'm sure we'll be able to get along just fine."

"I'm sorry for doubting your talents, are you happy now?"

"Yep, thanks for understanding. Maybe we won't try to erase you next time we meet. We have more important things to do than hunt you down, you know." The strawberry blonde then flew away with compatriot in tow.

"What was that all about, trying to act all intimidating?" Uzuki asked as they zoomed back to Reaper HQ.

"I thought that being a little more personal with them might make them a little more afraid of us, making our job a little easier."

"Makes sense, I guess. Maybe we should head on over to Towa Records to erase a few unlucky souls..."

"Seems like a good idea. Which reminds me; I finally remembered who those two remind me of!"

"And who exactly would those two be?"

"Do you remember those two Players a couple of months ago? One had this huge pair of 'phones, the other had this weird demented pig... thing, except the guy looks a little tan and the girl seems borderline psychotic. Which reminds me, how are they doing right now? Maybe I can persuade them to buy me some ramen..."

"But buying you ramen is my job..."

* * *

At Towa Records, you could see two mischievous guys around Uzuki's age making something rather strange...

"Hey, Ryuuji-san, I think we need some more incense..."

"Don't worry about it, Torao-san. A friend of mine gave me a couple more boxes so we could continue."

Yes, Torao and Ryuuji are collaborating together for an extra-special project involving incense. A lot happens in 7-8 years, doesn't it?

"There we go; I finally finished the hands! Now all we need to do is get you dressed, and light up the statue!" He handed Ryuuji his custom-made gakuran. "I guess it's time to put our plan into action, isn't it? Maybe this time, Mayumi-chan will notice us!"

"Yep, with the show we're gonna put on, Mayumi-chan'll definitely notice us!" Ryuuji quickly took the gakuran and ran towards the small makeshift booth they set up together. "Little does he know that I'm going to take Mayumi-chan for myself and a good portion of Shibuya with it, thanks to that lovely machine I found yesterday! It just seems so sad that Torao couldn't figure out what I was really up to, the gullible fool."

Alas, it seems as if nothing really changed at all, unless you're counting a few minor differences.

"Hey, look over there!" Uzuki cried out.

"It looks like a statue made out of incense. I hope they're careful that it doesn't catch fire."

"Wait, who's that over there, trying to fix the statue? It's been a couple of years, but he kinda looks like... Torao-kun!

"Wait, you know that kid?" Kariya was surprised to see a lady like Uzuki so shocked over someone so... _average_.

"Well, I was best friends with this girl named Wakana when I was around 10 or so. One day, Wakana was being fought over by these two guys, Torao and Ryuuji. They decided to hold a dodgeball match for their first kiss. That dude over there? He was the victor, and the very lucky recipient."

Kariya simply stifled a yawn. "Must have been pretty interesting."

"Well, I'm going to see my childhood friend's former boyfriend, so ta-ta!"

"Alright, good luck with that!" Kariya decided to take a closer look at the statue from above, noticing the stange amount of craftsmanship. "Wait, this looks rather suspicious..."

As he flew closer to the suspicious item, he finally realized what it was. "Small black box, connected to large speakers. No visible power source. The box can be identified by one small logo of a crown... This probably isn't a good sign." He knew that whatever it was supposed to be, it was very dangerous, and cut the wires connecting to the box. "There, that should do it for now."

Unfortunately, our other two heroes arrived.

"Isamu-kun, look! The statue's made out of incense!"

"Hey, don't you think this statue looks a little like that redhead we met yesterday?"

"Oh, you mean _that_ guy." Keiko sighed, felling incredibly uneasy as she did. "Why did you have to remind me?"

"Right, sorry about that. Anyways, what are we supposed to do to make people 'smell the exhibit'? We can't use psychs to interact with the RG, unless we're playing Reaper Creeper or something like that."

"Isamu-kun, I see a box full of cut wires..."

"Hey, maybe that's the key. If we reconnect the wires, something has to happen! But first, we should talk to the guy building it over there."

"I see a hole in your logic there, sir."

"Right, I forgot we're dead and can't communicate with the living under normal circumstances. But I guess it wouldn't hurt to try. What with all the incidents of people seeing us and all..."

"Are you insane in the membrane? Those people back there weren't normal by any stretch of the imagination. Last I heard, the red team dudes survived being hit by an ice shard the size of Tokyo Tower!"

"Last I heard, they actually died from that, and then got resurrected shortly after."

"That makes the whole thing WORSE! Look Shotaro, they might be Reapers, mutants, or giants in disguise, but they're certainly not human!"

"First of all, my surname is Sho_tora_, and secondly, I said we should try, but I guess Pinky beat us to the punch." He pointed towards Torao, who was conversing with Uzuki.

"Hey it's you, Torao! I know it's been a long while, but it's me, Uzuki!"

"Uzuki? I haven't heard from you in YEARS! By now, I thought you would have died or something."

Uzuki simply chuckled. "Um, that's a bit of a long story, you know... So how's Wakana been?"

"Well, she hit puberty just recently, so now I'm going after Mayumi. She's still cute even after growing her pubes!"

"God, what a pervert..." Uzuki thought to herself.

"By the way, you don't look too bad youself, what with that nice corset and all..."

"Back off, she's already _my_ girlfriend." Kariya slid towards Uzuki, clenching her closely to his chest. "Anyways, I hope you have a nice day, sir; we're going to leave right now."

"Umm... was it something I said?"

"Hello, my name is Shotora Isamu, and I'm here to ask about your exhibit. May I spare a moment with you?"

"Of course, what would you like to ask me?"

As the two continued to talk, Keiko was naturally surprised when she saw Isamu conversing with Torao in such a formal tone, considering how rude he could be in normal speech. Even she couldn't speak in such a formal tone without breaking her focus and talking in her normal tone again. It made her wonder exactly what Isamu's backstory was, and why he ended up the way he is today. Strangely enough, it also made Isamu look MUCH older than Torao, and in Keiko's mind...

"He looks WAYYY hotter!"

"So you're telling me that your lifelong rival, Ryu Ryuuji actually wanted to make a tribute to the very person that helped defeat him, am I correct?"

"That's right; he even agreed to let his uncanny similarity to him try to win Mayumi-chan over for me! It's kinda nice how he's willing to help me after the bitter rivalry we had."

"May I see this Ryuuji person for a moment? I would like to see how similar he looks to the fabled Ippongi Ryuuta."

"You were looking to see _me_?" a brash voice called out.

Isamu was rather shocked to see the uncanny resemblance. Ryuuji was wearing a custom-decorated gakuran, greatly resembling the same one Ryuuta currently wears. He even had similar-looking hair. (And believe me; the hair alone could probably take hours to even barely resemble him.) Sure, the Ouendan, Agents, and possibly Neku would notice that he was an imposter in a heartbeat, but other people probably wouldn't notice the difference, never seeing him in person.

Torao rushed towards him, marvelling at the workmanship of the outfit. "Hey, Ryuuji, that outfit looks wonderful! How did you even find an outfit that similar?"

"It's amazing how much things you can find lying on the ground in one day."

"Um... Ryuuji-san, your box seems to be disconnected to the speakers..." Isamu said.

Unfortunately, Ryuuji couldn't see him at all, mainly due to Isamu being deceased.

"RYUUJI! HE SAID YOUR BOX WAS BROKEN!" yelled Torao.

"Who said that my box was broken? Never mind, I'll see if I can fix it..." replied Ryuuji, and went into the alley.

"Strange... I heard you just fine, but why didn't he hear you at all?"

Isamu simply sighed. "... I don't really know." He thought to himself, "So, only specific people can see us, and they all have connections to a specific Ouendan group... weird."

Back from the alley, Ryuuji stepped up to the stand in front of the statue, held a mic to his face, and yelled as loud as he could. "ATTENTION ALL TOKYOITES! I, IPPONGI RYUUTA AM HERE TO DEMAND A FEW THINGS FROM YOU ALL!"

The crowd stood still for a moment, before facing the fiery impostor.

"ALRIGHT! YOU BETTER LISTEN, BECAUSE I HAVE A SPECIAL SURPRISE FOR ALL OF YOU!"

"What are you doing, Ryuuji-san? This wasn't our plan at all!"

Ryuuji simply smiled before whispering to his big-boned friend. "Who said I was following the plan?" Yelling even louder, he began to press a button, making the speakers vibrate. "THIS, MY FRIENDS, IS THE MARVEL THAT AN ANGEL FROM ABOVE HAS GIVEN ME!"

Suddenly, the speakers began to radiate a sickly aura, followed by the collective moaning of the entire crowd.

"My head doesn't feel so good anymore..." a passerby said.

"This doesn't look too good, Isamu-kun! I think we should run for it while we can!"

"But the mission-"

Keiko grabbed his hand and rushed out of the scene before he could respond. "If I have to choose between being here and being erased, I'd rather leave. This is someone else's problem now!"

Torao ran with them, scared out of his pants. "Wait for me, guys!"

* * *

Meanwhile, the Yuuhi cheergirls were watching television.

"Kick that guy's ass, Ed!" Anna yelled.

"You really like this series, don't you?" Sayaka said.

"Yeah, pretty much. Anyways, what's on the news? Do you think they'll say anything about Ageha and Kaede's new soap opera?"

Aoi took the remote to tune into MHK. "I heard that it's still in production, but I saw the pilot. Why don't we see for ourselves?"

As she flipped channels, the familiar image of the announcer appeared on-screen. "Hello everyone, this is Inoue Soichirou with today's live broadcast." The announcer then cleared his throat. "For today's news, we're going to go to Kagemoto Miki for live coverage."

"Thanks, Soichirou. Now, here in Shibuya... we... today... S-Soichirou..." The broadcast was suddenly cut off.

"M-Miki! What's wrong down there! Can you hear me?"

A hand from off-screen gave the announcer a sheet of paper. Reading it, his face slowly formed an expression of shock.

"This can't be... Apparently, mass headaches are being spread from Towa Records! The criminal responsible for this is apparently... Ippongi Ryuuta!"

The cheergirls yelled in unison, unsure of what it all meant. "WHAT!?"

"Hey, I just heard my name. What's going on?" Ryuuta asked.

"Ryuuta-san, this..." Anna pointed to the TV, conveniently zoomed into Ryuuji's face.

"Why? We just came back to have a vacation, and this is what we get?" Ryuuta then asked, "Sayaka, could you please get the Ouen Bus prepared for us? I need to have a word with this impostor..."

* * *

Meanwhile, back at Towa Records...

"Well, that was rather refreshing, wasn't it?" Neku asked.

"It sure beats hangin' around those huge hem porters, right Rhyme?" Beat replied.

Rhyme sharply corrected him. "Headquarters, Beat. Anyways, now that we can stay with you, how is everyone there? Are they all friendly?"

Shiki began to note a couple of things. "First of all, there are loads of people, but you can divide them all into four groups. First-"

Shiki stopped, shocked at the crowd of people simply laughing, while strange entities surrounded them. These entities looked like a twisted fusion of man and Noise, their soulless eyes staring at the space around them. One began to stare back at her, prepared to leap forward.

She fidgets with her watch, trying to figure it out. "Come on, why won't you work? Oh, there!"

Suddenly, Mr. Mew unhinged itself from its backpack, dropping to the floor. Shiki began to control him, trying to distract the strange creature.

"Neku, does your watch work? Because I have a really bad feeling about these things..."

Neku activated his watch, while the two Bitos got their brand new hoverboards out.

"This doesn't look too good at all... Beat! Rhyme! Deal with the ones possessing people. Shiki and I will deal with the ones that look like they're about to escape."

Both siblings nodded, already on their boards. "Okay."

Ryuuji was still there, trying to command the crowd. "Okay, my first decree towards all of you: GET ME A MILKSHAKE, STAT!"

The crowd stared at him, and slowly walked over towards the teen. Ryuuji, unable to see what was really going on, began to panic. "What should I do now? The manual specifically stated that they would obey me! Torao already left me to die here, and... Hey! Why are those guys fighting the air?" He tried to yell to Neku and company, "OVER HERE! WHY ARE YOU GUYS PUNCHING THE AIR? COULD YOU _TRY_ TO DO SOMETHING USEFUL HERE?"

Unfortunately for him, nobody was listening. "Well, if nobody's responding to my cries for help, then there's only one other choice." Ryuuji yelled again, but this time, he directed his plea skyward. "OUENDAAAN!!!"

"It seems that I'm right on time, then!" a voice howled from afar. Ryuuta arrived on top of the Ouen Bus! Ready to help, he jumped from the still-moving bus, stomping on a few Noise in the process. Once the bus came to a complete halt, the cheergirls cartwheeled out of the bus with an "Ikuwayo! 3, 2, 1, GO!"

"Finally, someone that can actually help me!" Ryuuji yelled excitedly.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself, kid. What the hell were you trying to pull, framing me like that!?" Ryuuta replied, punching a few people in the process.

"Well, I pretty much lost everything I had during that dodgeball match! My girlfriend, my reputation, even my HAIR! (Thankfully, it grew back.) I decided to ruin your reputation a bit by doing myself a little service, and I found the perfect tool to do it!"

"Gee, I never knew dodgeball could end up so devastating."

"How would you not know how devastating it would be? You're part of a group of WORLD-SAVING CHEERLEADERS, for crying out loud!"

"Hey, the world-saving part doesn't actually happen often. In fact, I think this is a more action-packed year than usual!"

"Hey, did you notice something biting on your ankle, because I certainly do."

Ryuuta looked down to find Miki trying to chew on his left ankle, and drove her off with a kick. "Well, I guess she won't be reporting for a while."

On the other end, Neku and company were surrounded by the Noise, and still needed to charge their pins.

Neku furiously shook his watch, mumbling, "Come on, finish charging already!"

Shiki held on to Neku's arm. "I think this is it for us, isn't it? Why do our psychs have to reload longer on these things?"

"Well, well, well! If it isn't Phones and the Catgirl!" a familiar voice said to them before clearing the Noise surrounding them.

"Wait, that voice! Isn't that the Lollipop guy?" Shiki wondered.

"You guys turned _weak_ in these last couple of months, haven't you?" he asked, trademark lollipop in hand.

"It's not us, it's these watches. They're really slow when it comes to reloading." Neku replied.

"Well, I'd love to stick around, but we're gonna report this to the GM, so later!"

"Gee, that was useful." Neku said sarcastically.

Shiki pointed at Kariya while he was flying away. "Wait, look where he's flying off to!"

Apparently, he was just going to do one more job before heading off. He flew to the black box connecting the speakers, and used his most damaging attack to finish it, leaving a charred crater which also accidentally set the incense statue ablaze. Once he did this, all the Noise began to disappear in a flash of static, like all regular Noise.

"So THAT'S all we needed to do?" Shiki asked. "So we basically floored all those Noise for nothing?"

"I guess so." Neku said.

"Well, that was surprisingly easy," Ryuuta beamed.

"W-well, I'll be going now!" Ryuuji said as he ran away.

"NOT SO FAST!"

Shocked by the sudden change in voice, Ryuuji forgot to watch his step and tripped on one of the wires.

"First of all, I don't want you to run around looking like me, so change back to your regular clothes. I'll tell you the other details later."

"But what can you do to stop me from running away right now?" Ryuuji asked.

"Look at your feet."

While he was down, Sayaka tied the loose wires to his feet, making sure he couldn't get away so easily. Thankfully, some of them melted together while she was tying, so he couldn't untie the knots either.

Ryuuta threw the impostor's clothes to the ground, close enough so he could reach. "Now, remove your clothes. Don't worry about privacy; we won't look."

Anna went right next to Ryuuta, trying to look away from the undressing teen. "What are you gonna do with him? He's not really all that useful when it comes to anything, you know."

"The same thing we do with every other delinquent in Tokyo, of course."

Once Ryuuji was done changing and cleaning his hair, he tried to stand up. "Can I go home now? I'm getting really hungry, and I think I'm going to miss the bus."

"Well, we have other plans for you," Ryuuta said, pointing to the two cops that appeared. "Ryuuji, meet Dan and Joe. Dan, Joe, this is the impostor that did all the damage."

"So you're the one who's been doing all of this!" Joe cried in shock.

"I knew it couldn't be one of the Ouendan, I just knew it!" Dan said in response before putting handcuffs on Ryuuji.

"W-Wait! I can prove that I'm still innocent, right?"

"Not a chance," the Ouendan leader replied. "In fact, don't you still have burn marks from when you were trying to repair the wires?"

The cops looked at Ryuuji's hands, seeing that he was right. "But how did you know that he was repairing the wires earlier?" Dan asked.

"I might be a hot-blooded idiot, but I'm not stupid. I've been observing a few things while the suspect was changing."

As the cops drove Ryuuji to the police station, Ryuuta and the cheergirls decided to bring Neku and company back home.

"So, are we bringing these guys with us?" Sayaka asked, pointing at Beat and Rhyme.

Ryuuta shrugged. "Sure, why not? Besides, I'm sure that our guests might need some more company their age now that Joshua suddenly went missing."

After he said that, Aoi ran to the bus and got a small package with an envelope out. "That reminds me, Shinta-chan wanted to give this to you. He said he was sorry for such a rough start before, and gave this to you as a gift so you and him could start all over."

Neku opened the letter first, finding not a letter from Shinta, but from Joshua. He read the contents of the letter to himself, but not aloud.

_Dear Neku,_

_If you're reading this right now, that means I've already left the residence. Don't get too worried about me, it's just a safety precaution so Masuyo (the present Conductor) doesn't catch me. That doesn't mean I can't supervise the game, of course; I can still communicate with the GM and several Officers. However, I want you and everyone else to be on your toes. Besides, I don't think life would be as fun as it is right now without you, isn't that right Neku? The Conductor is definitely up to something this time, and I'm sure of it. The next time you hear from me will probably be on the 29__th__, so good luck until then._

_Lots of Love from me,_

_Joshua_

As Neku opened the package, he gained another set of headphones, exactly like the ones that were torn to pieces by the Custom Noise. As he placed the phones back on his head, his face gave an expression of both happiness and mild confusion.

"What's the matter, Neku? I thought you'd love something like this!" Shiki said.

"Well, it's not that I don't love the new set, it's just that... How many times do I have to replace these things in one year!? This is probably the third set I've had, and it probably costs another fortune, too!"

Ryuuta patted Neku on the back with a bit too much force, almost knocking his headphones down again. "Don't worry about it, kid. Those Noble guys earn a fortune a month each either way! Besides, it's getting dark again, so we should go back home. Dinner's going to get cold!"

Sayaka sat in the driver's seat of the bus. "Since I'm the only non-reckless driver on here, I'll be the one getting us home."

* * *

As more people join the Broadcasting Club...

Some more notes:

-I found out the actual plot to this now! Stay tuned to find a lot of weirdness going on, and maybe I'll release the TRUE 9th chapter! (It isn't really too connected to the rest anyways.)

-Unfortunately for explanation purposes, Chapter 9 also leaves out why I put the setting as it is. It's kinda unnecessary and tl;dr anyways. All you need to know is that Meguro is close to Shibuya.


	9. Isamu?

In another of Kariya's drams...

"How was your day yesterday?" the mysterious figure asked him.

"Umm... It was rather normal, except for the fact that _people were being possessed by half-Noise creatures._"

The figure showed a look of distraught. "Just as I feared... Koki, I will need you to act as my unofficial proxy. Is that okay with you? I have already sorted out what I will do with the current Producer and the Composer of a nearby ward."

Kariya started to think that this figure was more than just a figment of his imagination. "You're with the Producer and _another_ Composer? Does that mean that you're...?"

"That is correct; as expected of an Officer as keen as you, Koki. I am the Composer of Shibuya. I struck another bet with the Conductor, because I knew something was up with her. Of course, she can't possibly win and defeat me."

"But why not? She's plenty strong, and she has that little pet of hers that follows her every order. And that's just talking about the current GM..."

"Well, thankfully for me, the Composer of Meguro has offered to help me with my little predicament. He's a rather sociable man you know, if not a little eccentric. Anyways, I need you to find out where the Conductor's gates are and destroy them as quickly as possible. I fear that the consequences may be dire if they remain open, as I have already seen some of the side-effects. I want you to figure out how to seal these gates before something terrible happens to this world."

"What are the consequences of these 'gates' remaining open anyways?"

"You see, I've looked into the matter for a while, and have concluded these 'gates' allow travel between worlds. Of course, this would interfere with current operations in the UG, and might cause all the connected worlds to be destroyed... That probably wouldn't end well."

"No kidding, Composer. Anyways, I have a few more questions for you while I'm still in here."

"Go on then, but I'll only answer one before you wake up. Would you like some ramen?" Joshua gave Kariya a bowl of Miso Ramen, while he was holding a bowl of Shio.

"Well, yesterday I saw these weird things at Towa Records. They looked like people, but they were most certainly Noise, and didn't even act human. Could you explain what happened there?"

Joshua slurped a little bit of his ramen before speaking again. "That is actually an incredibly rare phenomenon that I myself have only heard of from an Angel. The creatures you saw are called 'White Noise,' and occur when Soul is strung together using corrupted Code. The result is a type of Noise that retains some human-like qualities, making it both a monstrous and tragic creation."

"Thank you for the insight, Mr. Composer. I hope to see you soon if I ever get promoted."

As the Composer (By the Composer, I mean Joshua.) faded away, he turned to face Kariya and smiled. "Well, I already know you'll succeed in your mission Koki, so please wake up..."

"Wake up? What do you wean, wake up?" he asked.

"I mean, WAKE UP!" Uzuki yelled before kicking him right out of bed. "It's almost time for the 5th day of the Game! If we're late for it, the GM might make us do some menial labour again..."

Kariya shuddered at the thought of what Takehiko would make them do if they were late. "You're right, Uzuki. Let's get there before it's too late."

"Umm, aren't you going to get changed first?"

"Right, I'll get ready in a sec..." the strawberry-blonde haired Reaper said before running to the bathroom with a stack of clothes.

* * *

At Dogenzaka...

"Well, this is a weird place to be dropped off," Keiko said. She was playing Reaper Creeper with a salaryman who was standing outside Ramen Don.

"Yes! I got red, so that means I should get some dumplings!" the man said to himself.

"So... you wanted to hear about my life story, right?" Isamu asked.

"Well, yeah. Now that we have some free time, why don't you tell me? Even if the mission has a small time limit, I'm pretty sure someone else can finish it. Besides, we've already completed 3 by ourselves!"

"Fine, but I'm not sure if it'll be as interesting as you think it would be..."

Isamu took a pause before beginning his story. "You see, I'm actually the son of an incredibly high-class family that included my parents, my brother and I. However, things ended up becoming really strained between us, so I decided I would run away. Unfortunately, I realized that a kid couldn't really take the rough and tumble of the streets, and I got a little roughened up. A few days later, I found a group that wasn't secretly trying to get some easy money from a spoiled brat. The leader was a great guy, and he taught me everything I know. I even had a partner, who stayed by my side through and through. But..." He paused for a long while, worrying Keiko.

"Isamu-kun? What's wrong? Why won't you tell me the rest of the story?"

Isamu cleared his eyes for a while before continuing his story, his voice growing shakier with every sentence. "Well, the troupe and I, we... were back from our tour in Brazil... We were all pumped up because of our huge success... but we, everyone... We were careless..."

"I-Isamu-kun, you don't mean..."

Isamu continued, in a sombre tone that was different from his usual snarky voice. "Everyone on the bus died... including me and my partner."

"So that's why? I wonder why you didn't see any of your former crew around here."

Isamu glanced away from Keiko, chuckling a little bit. "Heh... Maybe that's it."

Keiko looked puzzled. "What's it, Isamu-kun?"

"My entry fee... Maybe it was the rest of the crew. I mean, I would at least expect our leader to live through everything here, but I haven't seen him since the accident... In the end, I kinda gave up on all of them, and I gave up on my own future in the process."

"Maybe you shouldn't have. If you really cared about them, you would live for them, right? When we're alive again, you should see if they're alright, okay? Maybe you could see if your parents forgive you too!"

"Well, at least this game with you ensured that I don't lose hope entirely."

"Well, why don't I cheer you up first? We could get some ice cream at Sunshine, my treat!"

"Keiko... You always try to make the best of every moment, don't you?"

"Well, I have to make up for everything else that happened before, now don't I? [[LET'S POSITIVE THINKING!]]"

"You do have a point. And by the way, I prefer Baskie-Robert."

Keiko took out her scooter again, forgetting about the mission mail altogether. "Just get on the scooter."

* * *

While Isamu and Keiko went to get ice cream, Kariya was snooping around the Conductor's house for some info. He heard a rumour that Sho Minamimoto's body was laying in one of the junk piles in her living room, but he basically just shrugged it off as a joke. Unfortunately, said piles of junk made it incredibly difficult to get the info he needed, since trying to sort everything out would only make the situation worse. He was almost about to give up and blow up the whole house, until he saw a grey kitten rub up to his leg.

"Hey, lil' fella! Aren't you the Conductor's pet cat, Mr. Snuggles?"

The fluffy little kitten tilted its head. "Nya?"

"By the way, do you know where I could find your owner's room? I'm here to get something important..." Kariya was doubtful when it came to the cat trusting him, since it was his first trip to Masuyo's house.

Mr. Snuggles pointed his paw towards the south, in between a vending machine and a mannequin. Confused by all this symbolism, Kariya just went through, making sure he didn't make anything fall over. As he entered, he saw a room with all its walls painted black, with just a poster, one miniscule window and a double bed. Unlike the rest of the house, this room was astonishingly tidy, without the mounds of trash overflowing from every corner. Near the bed, Kariya saw a laptop which was conspicuously left on.

"Now what do we have here? Maybe this will give me some nice info about her plans." He opened the laptop, revealing Masuyo's e-diary.

_July 19__th__..._

_The Composer is still alive. It seems as if I have to take matters into my own hands..._

_What about killing the kid with the headphones? It seems that the Composer really likes him, so maybe his death might illicit a response..._

_But how can I do that?_

_I hope my sister's all right..._

The Reaper scrolled down, revealing some more text.

_July 20__th__..._

_My boss was asking where I've been yesterday. I told him that I had extra work at my day job running a magazine as a cover. It seems that our plan is going along smoothly._

_It seems that by tomorrow, reality will crumble further, leaving it ripe for the picking. He predicts that by the 28__th__, everyone will be consumed by the White Noise, even Players and Reapers._

_HAIL OUR LEADER! HAIL MOO MOO!_

"Hmm... Just who is this leader she's talking about? But I have heard of Moo Moo Corporation... Isn't it that car company that went bust a few years ago?"

_July 21__st__..._

_It's 2 days from the end of this week's Game. I'm trying to figure out how to invoke the Composer's wrath. Should I summon some Noise to go get those kids? Nah, they have no problem eliminating those things. And then there's the fact that they're being guarded by those flashy guys..._

_I heard some rumours on the internet about those guys. Apparently, they're two separate cheer squads that just happened to have teamed up. What interest would they have in some seemingly random kids? Anyways, I heard that they would never kill a person... Maybe I can coax the kids into killing one of the Cow Masks._

_What would they choose: to kill, or be killed?_

_The internal conflict would be so amusing!_

Kariya closed the e-diary window, thinking about what all this meant.

"So she wants to kill the Composer by agitating one of the people close to him. Who would that be?"

"Meow."

"Huh?"

The small cat began to start typing on the laptop, piquing the Reaper's attention.

"Some Old Horses Can Always Hear Their Owner Approach... I'm sure that someone said this before. Just what exactly are you trying to tell me, kitty?"

"Meow." Mr. Snuggles began to type a few more sentences before exiting the small room.

"Remember that orange-haired hectopascal? Well, the Conductor's planning a little surprise for him and his friends..."

"Wait, orange hair? He doesn't mean Phones, does he?" Kariya went to go find Mr. Snuggles. "Hey, kitty! Where are you going?"

"Meow." The cat then proudly trotted out the door and into what could only be a shady alleyway.

"This seriously sucks... If I don't get the cat back, then Masuyo's going to claw at my throat, and if I don't warn Phones, then she'll probably claw _his_."

As he was about to leave Masuyo's house, a tall figure came up to him.

"Do not worry about Sakuraba. For now, try to follow the young kitten, for it may know far more than you think."

Before Koki could respond, the tall figure disappeared into nothingness. He sighed and chased after Mr. Snuggles.

"Why does it seem like everyone in the universe wants me to do something important for them?" he sighed.

Kariya followed Mr. Snuggles into a narrow door, which seemed to connect to an office building. He wandered around the hallways, following the dirty trail the cat left behind. As he strolled into one of the deserted rooms, he saw an elevator. However, instead of the normal array of buttons that show you which floor you're going to, there was a keypad.

"Hmm... How am I going to get down now?" The Reaper thought for a moment. "I'm still in the TWEWY universe, right? Then maybe this should work."

He pressed on the keys until he found his desired number. The elevator suddenly made a _ding_ before lowering him to the lowest floor.

"I knew that 777 would work! Now, I have to dig up some dirt on Masuyo's plan..."

He saw Mr. Snuggles napping inside a small chamber. Next to the chamber was a large computer filled with strange data. Kariya looked at the computer and found some text in Japanese.

"See the knobs on the right? Turn the leftmost one counter-clockwise. Don't be irrational, do it quickly! Next, you'll find a window on this screen. Input the password '[[King Leo]]' and watch me go to infinity!"

Once he followed the instructions on the note, Kariya saw a pillar of light emanate from the chamber. Suddenly, in place of Mr. Snuggles, he saw a familiar man inside, except that a few of his features were more feline in nature, including a pair of cat ears and a tail.

"Zetta nice! It's been a while since I've had thumbs, you know. Not bad from a hectopascal like you."

Kariya looked at the man in horror, before calling him out. "Sho Minamimoto! Does this mean that I've been tricked!?"

"Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally! I might be a little irrational, but I'd never lie!" He stepped out of the chamber before wrapping his arm around Kariya's shoulder. "As a gift of thanks, I'd love to answer all your questions. Going back and forth between states of existence helped me find out a lot about this world, you know?"

Kariya began to feel incredibly irritated. "First of all, why the hell were you a cat? Second of all, what the hell is Masuyo trying to pull? Thirdly, who the hell was that huge guy who came up to me just then?"

"First of all, stop saying 'hell' so many factoring times. Secondly, the Composer just wanted to make sure that I wouldn't interfere with the Games and try to kill him again. Thankfully, I have bigger fish to fry this time, but I'm not gonna do it with that Masuyo chick and her company. Cooperation is garbage! CRUNCH! I'll add it to the heap!"

"What do you mean by 'bigger fish'? Do you mean the Producer or something?"

"What the factor? No! Besides, I'm not sure if I even count as a Reaper anymore... I guess I should tell you what I found out." Sho went into a thinking pose, trying to remember what he was going to say.

"Right. Well, I might as well start with what I found out when I got buried under that trash heap. Right now, the Composers of Meguro and Shibuya are having a bet to decide the future of the world at large by defeating Moo Moo Corporation. What they don't know is that there are more great authorities at work right now. Essentially, a bunch of gods are playing chess against each other, except everyone's actually teaming up against the same person."

"And what about that flashy guy with the cape?"

"One word for you, Carrot-Top: SOH-CAH-TOA."

Kariya was confused by Sho's choice of words. "Well, I never expected to see you help me, that's for sure."

Sho let out his maniacal grin, to show he was serious. "Don't think that I'm doing this to help you _or_ the Composer."

* * *

I'm done! Now for the notes:

-Sho's back, baby! Why? Be sure to stay tuned and find out! Or not, maybe he's just here as fangirl bait.

-Yeah, Kaoru's pretty mysterious. Then again, the Ouendan are basically a pervert, a nympho, a few idiots, a bunch of Cloud Cuckoolanders, two psychos, two jerks, a brat, an American, God, the character designer and Moriyama.

-There's gonna be a few twists around the corner soon, I swear! A nice hint? Lions and butterflies and bears and Jesus, oh my.


	10. Going In For The Scoop!

"Hello there, Mr. Assassin! How are you doing today?" Masuyo asked.

"I'm a mercenary, not an assassin. What do you want with me?"

"Well, I've been having this huuuge problem with some kids that are ruining our plans. At this rate, we'll only have the ability to open half the portals in Tokyo."

The mercenary seemed uninterested. "Well, what do you want me to do about it? I'm not here to babysit a bunch of kids so you can rule the world."

"I don't want you to babysit them; I want you to _kill_ them. Eradicate the ones guarding them as well, and then take the headphones of the one in purple. Its power is of great interest to us..."

He took notes. "Okay: Kill children, kill people in technical custody of children, take one child's headphones, present to creepy cow chick, and get money. What's so special about this mission?"

"Well," Masuyo said, "I want you to try this failsafe that we've had on hand for quite some time..."

Suddenly, a siren began to sound in Moo Moo HQ.

"What do you mean, there's a large spaceship up in the atmosphere!?" she yelled at one of her subordinates.

He was typing as quickly as possible to get some more data. "It seems as if it's going to crash into... there!"

"What do you mean by 'there'? You don't mean...?"

"Well, we're going to have to do something about it," he said before sipping a coffee. He began to input a few commands before stepping out of his seat.

"I guess that should do it, but where's it going to land now?" Masuyo asked.

* * *

At the Dojo...

"Why do I keep on losing!?" Ryuuta yelled before throwing his DS against the wall.

"I heard Ready Steady Go is absolutely brutal on Hard," Neku replied.

Ryuuta just gave Neku a puzzled look. "There's a hard mode!?" he asked in surprise.

As Ryuuta was about to get up and pick up his DS, Sayaka rushed into the room the two were in.

"Guys, I sense something really big falling from the sky, and it's going to crash near... iNiS Headquarters!"

Ryuuta looked up at her in the same puzzled look he gave Neku. "But... Isn't that where Rin is? She's doing more charity work again?"

"What's iNiS?" Neku asked.

"It's... very hard to explain." Sayaka put her hands on her hips, trying to imitate Rin. "But never mind that; send Minazuki-san and Kawai-san there!"

Sayaka rushed to find Honoka and Reika, who were apparently sewing another plushie together. This time, it was a bunny version of Shiki, complete with miniature Mr. Mew.

"Guys, get moving, right now!" Sayaka yelled. "Rin and the rest of us might be in danger!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Rin was doing charity work.

"Ahh, isn't it great to be working for a good cause?" she asked herself. She was the type of person who spent half her money on donations and the other half on clothes. Right now, she was helping the nearby thrift store stock up their items.

Suddenly, she heard a loud crash right outside. Rin dropped the box she was holding and ran outside to see what fell. Now was probably not the time for her to be using up all her strength cheering. As she went outside, she saw someone walk out of the smoke. She had pink hair and a retro outfit in white that didn't leave too much to the imagination.

"Whoa... that was quite some trip, wasn't it?" the lady said, still disoriented.

"Just hang on there, Ulala. I see someone up ahead," a voice replied.

Rin began to brace herself. She sensed a strong aura coming from Ulala, and she wasn't sure if she was hostile.

Ulala picked up her mic and began to walk across the road in a strangely suggestive manner.

"Welcome back, everyone. I've just landed somewhere unfamiliar, but it seems like 21st century Earth. I'm going to investigate further into this shocking discovery."

"Stop right there!" a voice yelled from far away. Suddenly, Honoka and Reika slid in front of Rin.

"You shouldn't be here!" Honoka yelled.

Reika added to her statement. "If you want to prove that you're good, face us!"

The smoke cleared up to reveal a spaceship. "Go show them your moves!" the mysterious voice replied.

Rin and Ulala began to pose. "Dance battle!" they yelled in unison.

Music began to blare from the spaceship, starting the fight. Rin was the first to start off, with a few simple shifts to the right. She wasn't very comfortable dancing in her working clothes, and her backups already had enough time to change.

Ulala responded next, mimicking Rin's exact moves. The cheergirls could already feel her getting stonger.

"[[Right, up! Right, down! Right! Right!]]" Rin yelled in response, while doing the moves the words corresponded to.

Ulala still followed her steps perfectly, but neither side would give up yet. The cheergirls began to pull off more elaborate combos to keep up, but it seemed as if Ulala would always outdance them.

"I'm telling you, we're not your enemies!" Ulala cried.

"Amemiya-san said that someone would come and attack us! She even said that the enemy had something similar to our Ki!" Honoka yelled.

"E-Even Kiryuuin-sama said so! Nobody's ever seen his predictions go wrong!" Reika hollered.

A few steps later, and Rin finally felt a little less weight on her. It seems as if the team's spirit was increasing, and a visible aura of fire sprang up. Soon, the fire began to rise higher and higher, until the cheergirls were engulfed entirely in their burning aura.

"Wh-what is this!? I thought I was the only one who could do that! And so quickly, too!" the space reporter yelped.

"We're not done yet!" Rin yelled. "[[Chu... Up!]]"

Ulala started to charge up her energy, giving her a hot pink glow. "[[Chu... Up!]]"

In retaliation, the cheergirls began their final move. "[[Up... Chu! Chu! Chu!]]"

"[[Up... Chu! Chu! Chu!]]"

Rin backed up, holding her hands up in the air. "Okay, okay, you win this time. I guess we're not so different from each other after all."

"Well, could you tell us what's happening here first?" Ulala asked.

"Actually, we should be asking you what you're doing here! Are you sure we can trust you?"

"Well, I was just investigating the appearance of these creepy monsters that were appearing all over Mars, so we decided to look for Purge. We heard he was chilling somewhere on Earth, but we got hit by this satellite while we were cruising around. Next thing you know, we landed here!"

"Wait," Rin said, trying to put all the pieces together. "You're a reporter. As a reporter, your spaceship... van thing should have a satellite. You crashed into a satellite that was near here... You need to come with us, quickly! Bring the ship with you too."

Ulala began to call the van over. "Fuse? Do you think that we can drive the ship all the way over to wherever we're heading?"

Fuse gave a reply from the ship. "Well, I'm pretty sure we can't leave the atmosphere in the state this thing is in, but if the location isn't too far..."

"Great! Thanks, Ulala-san!" Honoka squealed in glee. "Now we have even more people to keep us company!"

"Even... more people?" Ulala asked.

"Of course! There's Kiku-chan, Saionji-sempai, Sugita-san, Moriyama-san, Kaoru-dono, and that's only less than half the people in our dojo right now, not counting pets!"

"Umm... wow." Ulala began to walk, with the noble cheergirls, the SC5 ship, and Sayaka for no specific reason. "Well, there you have it, folks. It's a blast to the past on..."

Everyone began to pose for the camera that was in front of them. "Spaaace Channel 5!"

* * *

To Be Continued on the Next Chapter!

(Oh great, not another fandom that's crossing over. At this rate, Neku and pals will be left completely out of the spotlight! That is, unless...)

Author's Notes!

-Just assume that by cheergirls, I mean the ones on Asahi, okay?

-Yeah, there was some foreshadowing on Chapter 9, but as I said, it wasn't a very interesting chapter... (Mainly there for author appeal, you know?)

-Poor Shinta. He's the only one that Honoka actually calls by a cutesy name among the Asahi guys. Then again, considering the things that Honoka _could_ do to him...


	11. Dream of Randomness

Evening at the Ouen dojo...

"Hey, guys! Look who's coming to stay with us for now!" Sayaka yelled.

"My name is Ulala, and I'm a reporter for Space Channel 5. I've just crash landed here, so I was hoping I could crash at your place until Fuse is done repairing the ship."

"Well, you don't look like an Ulala to me," Ruuta said.

"I always thought you'd be a boxer, not a reporter," Saito remarked.

"Oh great," Neku thought, "Not more random strangers."

Sayaka pointed at the room behind her. "Now that we're done with introductions, we should go eat dinner. J gave us some great pasta for our guest!"

* * *

After dinner, Neku and pals decided to go play in the basement, while Sayaka prepared the top floor, which was thankfully repaired, for yoga.

"YEAH!" Beat yelled after the group's third win in Rock Band 2. "We ROCK at this game!"

"I never even knew Rhyme could do bass," Neku said, trying to select another song on the custom guitar he was holding.

Shiki sighed. "It's kinda sad how I don't really know any English songs, though. Thankfully, the melodies are pretty easy to catch."

They were having a lot of fun together, until they heard a voice.

"Lookin' zetta sexy there, amigos!"

The gang suddenly turned their attention to the leftmost window, where they saw a familiar face with incredibly feline features.

"Sho Minamimoto!?" They yelled in unison.

"Glad you remember me, you zetta sons of digits!" Sho then fired a cluster of energy shots at the crew. "Inverse matrix!"

* * *

After what seemed like moments later, Neku got up from a bed. Looking at his surroundings, it seemed immediately familiar, as he saw a room filled with CAT products and a closet with his favourite Jupiter of the Monkey clothes peeking out. He looked down and saw his old pyjamas.

"Don't tell me that everything back then was a dream..." Neku said remorsefully. Looking at the calendar and clock in his room, he found out that it was only April, and he had to get ready for school soon, or else he would be late. Not wanting to wait any longer, he got changed and went to eat breakfast.

"Bye, mom!" He said as he went out the door.

His mom laughed. "I haven't seen you this eager to go to school since your friend came over!"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about him..."

At school, Neku saw that things had pretty much been reset to how things were before everything happened. Some girls were whispering something about him while he was walking past, a normal occurrence back then.

"Oh! I-I'm so sorry!" a timid young girl said when she bumped into Neku, dropping all her books. She was rather short, with bright orange hair tied into little pigtails. Her eyes were a plain brown, similar to almost everyone else in the school, framed by a pair of small pink glasses.

Neku helped pick up some of her books and gave what he managed to grab to her. "Here you go. You didn't really need to apologize."

Suddenly, everyone nearby began to crowd around and take a closer look.

"Hey, isn't that Loner Kid over there?"

"Hey, he's actually talking to someone! And it's freakin' _Chiaki_!"

"Wow, I never would have known."

"So Loner Kid likes doormats?"

"It all makes perfect sense! The guy who's as stiff as a board needs a doormat like her to soften up a little!"

"Wouldn't she end up getting a little rough-"

"SHUT UP!" Neku hollered. "I just wanted to be friendly for a change, that's all..." He stormed out of the crowd, looking for his homeroom.

School went by as it usually did for Neku back then, except that people were avoiding him instead of him avoiding people. He was still doing well in school, occasionally doodling pictures of his friends in his old notebook. He was feeling a bit lonely already.

At the end of the day, it began to pour heavily on the school grounds. Unfortunately, Neku didn't have an umbrella, and his classmates were actively avoiding him again, afraid he was going to push them off again. It seemed like he was going to have to walk alone, drenched in the rain, until he saw the same girl that he met earlier, carrying a small magenta umbrella.

"Hello there, Sakuraba-san," Chiaki said to Neku.

"Hi there."

"So, it's really rainy right now. Are you waiting for someone important?"

"Not in particular, why do you ask?"

"Well... you don't seem to be carrying an umbrella on you right now. Would you like me to walk you to where you need to go?"

Neku looked around before replying. "That would be really nice, but what would the guys in our school think? I mean, what with this morning and all..."

"Don't worry about it; nobody's here!"

"I guess, you're right, but..."

"Come on!" Chiaki took a firm grip on Neku's hand, running towards the school exit. "Where to?"

"H-hey! Could we slow down for a moment?" Neku yelped.

At Neku's house, Mrs. Sakuraba decided to invite Chiaki over for dinner. "We haven't had anyone over for dinner in a long while," she said while making curry.

"That... was awkward." Neku said to Chiaki at the dining room table.

Chiaki giggled. "I never knew that you had such a nice house, Sakuraba-san."

"You know, you didn't really have to do all that for me..."

"Well, I thought that you looked more depressing than usual, that's all."

"I guess I should thank you," Neku said to her. "But I don't really want to..." he thought to himself.

"Besides, I never did think you actually hated everyone," Chiaki said to Neku. "I thought you were just... shy!"

"...I guess you could say that."

"Well, thanks for the dinner and all, but I gotta bounce!" Chiaki said, rushing towards the door.

"Wait! You forgot your para... Oh, forget it."

* * *

That night, Neku had an incredibly strange dream...

"Welcome to the space between consciousness and unconsciousness..."

Neku woke up in a strange place surrounded by nothingness. The columns around him were made of gold, and the floor was a chequered pattern not unlike a chess board. In the center of the area they were standing on, there was a wise-looking figure wearing a white mask adorned with a blue butterfly.

"Do you know who I am?" the figure asked Neku. "More importantly, do you remember who you are?"

"Umm... Sakuraba Neku," he replied, while thinking, "And you're probably insane."

"Good, you still remember who you are."The figure bowed. "I am Philemon. You shall soon embark on your strange journey, helping to unfold the secrets behind everything."

Neku's look changed from one of disbelief to one of interest. "Secrets? What secrets are you talking about?"

"People live by wearing different masks. Likewise, the world as you know it is harbouring a dark secret behind its own mask. To help you in uncovering this mask, I shall give you the power of Persona." In his hand, there was a pin featuring a cross between an old Babylonian castle and one of Neku's practice murals.

"Unfortunately, I cannot intervene any further. Remember, you must find out the truth..."

* * *

Suddenly, Neku woke up again, this time within a deep forest. "You know, this reminds me of a poem I read in school once," the teen thought to himself, "except much, much stranger."

Before he got up, a small slime pounced on him, giving Neku a mild sting.

"What the!? Wait, I still have that watch, right?" He activated the watch to see only one pin in his inventory. "What happened to all my other pins? Don't tell me I lost the Darklit Planet set!"

More slimes began to appear, trying to sting the guy to death. Neku read the pin's stats, trying to figure out what to do.

"Gilgamesh? Wait... Holy crap, THAT Gilgamesh? Sweet!" Neku read the instructions. "To evoke, firmly grasp pin with hand, and yell whatever feels natural. (A "Persona!" will suffice for most situations.)" A little unsure as to whether it would actually work or not, Neku took the pin in his hand, clutching it ever so slightly.

He was taking his time, until the slimes began to grow rows of sharp teeth, getting faster with every bicuspid. Still, Neku was hesitant to use the pin. This time, one tooth-slime took a lunge at Neku's face, too quick for him to even see.

As if he were moving on his own, he suddenly grasped the pin with all his might. "PERSONA!!!"

"Thou art I, and I am thou. From the sea of thy soul, I cometh: the great king, Gilgamesh!"

A large phantasm in golden armour appeared, slicing the tooth-slime in half with its giant sword before vanisning. Oddly enough, he was feeling a little winded after Gilgamesh disappeared. Fortunately for Neku, most of the slimes already fled by then, so he didn't have to exhaust himself as much.

"My pin levelled up, and it learned a new skill? I could get used to this!" Neku did a little practice yelling before moving on. "GIRUGAMESHU! Now I know why those guys love to yell so much..."

Walking along the forest path, he began to see a patch of strange green plants. Edging closer to them, the plants suddenly gained mouths, spitting fire on the intruder.

"First tooth-slimes, and now this? Is this some sort of screwed-up RPG or something?"

Neku dashed across the plants, making sure that his clothes didn't catch on fire. When things got too hectic, he threw sticks he got off the ground to keep the plants off-guard. After all that, he had to face even greater waves of slimes and fire-breathing plants. By now, he was expecting some sort of tapir to appear.

Once he was out of their sight, he began to see the end of the path, stopping right at a rose garden.

"Finally! Now what am I supposed to do here, anyways? Find out the truth?" Neku scoffed at the idea. "Sure, those weird Noise symbols have been popping up more frequently, and the Ouendan have been talking a lot about Moo Moo, but they weren't exactly the sanest bunch either. That guy was probably just high or something."

"Ohohohoho! Hello there, my dear, I hope to strike fear! Prepare your weapon!" a noblewoman's voice called out.

Neku turned to find a small girl with a black robe, pigtails and pointy ears confronting him. He was still confused as to who was calling him out.

"You should remove those dreadful headphones of yours," the girl said with an intimidating aura. Just as Neku was about to run from her, he was suddenly bound at his feet, unable to move his legs. He then felt unusual warmth as he got burnt by her Flare.

"That should be a good lesson for the day; do not ignore me, or else you'll _pay_." Rocks appeared at Neku's feet, ready to skewer him at the girl's command. Before he got pierced by said rocks, however, he woke up in his guest bed, with Shiki by his side.

"Neku! You're finally awake!" Shiki said in glee.

"Don't tell me this is another dream..." he groaned.

"We were kinda worried after that fight you had with Sho in the basement... Thankfully the doctor said you'd be fine, but you just didn't seem... yourself."

Neku was confused by this statement. After being knocked out by Sho's shot, everything was a blank, except for the dreams he had. He looked inside one of his pockets to find the very same pin he used to slice the slimes, making him question what had happened even further.

"But why would he be back if he got crunched by a vending machine when we were trying to fight Shades?"

"I guess death just isn't permanent in this universe," Neku said.

Shiki rolled her eyes at what Neku just said. "Like I never knew that already."

All was well until Sayaka rushed into the room with a look of alarm on her face. "Guys, I'm really sorry for this, but you have to leave right now." She pushed an envelope into Shiki's hands before pulling their entire luggage down from the top floor. "Misaki-chan, here are the tickets for the concert. For now, this place isn't safe, so try to run as far away from here as possible. In fact, just stay away from Shibuya and Meguro in general, and Sakuraba-kun, whatever you do, _don't drop your phones_!"

After all that, it seemed as if Sayaka was completely flushed, but it seemed like she was used to it.

"Please, it'd be a lot safer for you guys," she said, "and probably a lot better in the long run..."

Neku was caught off-guard by her last statement. "Long run? What does she mean by that?" he thought. He had no time to waste, however, as there was a sense of immense panic in her voice. He got up from bed in order to get himself ready to go out, presumably for at least a week.

"So... We didn't really need to stay there?" Beat asked. "Well, that was a waste of time."

"But something didn't seem right," Shiki said.

Neku began to tell his friends about his experience. "You know, I had this weird dream while I was knocked out. First off I dreamt that I was back in my normal school routine before I met you guys, except everyone was avoiding me instead of the other way around, and there was this really weird perky girl named Chiaki. Then, there was this guy in a butterfly mask, and he was talking about how the world had a bunch of dark secrets and stuff. Frankly, I had no idea what he was talking about, but he did give me a kickass pin to use if we ever have to fight some more White Noise. Though I learned never to underestimate little girls with pointy ears, or else you get skewered."

Everyone stared blankly at Neku. "What?"

Shiki tried examining Neku. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Neku sighed. "You know what? Let's just keep walking."

* * *

GIRUGAMESHU! (That is fun!)

-Yeah! I guess that makes another semi-crossover, at least for now...

-What the hell is Sho going to do next? Seriously, he's so unpredictable; even I don't know what to do with him!

-Chiaki? Well, the references just pile on and on...


	12. Butterflies Use Email Too!

"Well, where do we go now?" asked Neku. "The Ouendan booted us, and Mr. H is on 'business leave.'"

"I don't want to go yet," Shiki said, looking down at a lifeless Mr. Mew. "I still want to go to the concert."

"I gotta have some ramen at Ramen Don before I leave, yo," Beat grumbled.

"So... You guys want to do some final preparations before we go? You could say something to Eri if you want," Neku said, looking at the shiny new pin he received from his dream.

"Oh right! I forgot about the dress I had to make for her... Do you think we could go shopping for a while before we leave?"

"Sure. I'll see if we can get some train tickets," Neku said.

"Beat and I are going to go to Wild Boar for a while, okay?" Rhyme asked in her usual cheery tone.

"Cool. Let's all meet back at 104, just to make things easier."

Everyone went their separate ways, leaving Neku to get the tickets. Fortunately, multiple games at Stride have given him loads of money for various things. He was just about to go inside to buy some tickets, until he heard his phone ring. Strangely enough, Neku never bothered to buy a new phone, even though his was incredibly outdated by now.

"New mail, huh? I wonder who it's from..."

_From: PHIL_

_Subject: Before you leave..._

_I know that you were requested to leave this place. However, it would be wise of you to stay here for the moment until things settle down. If you turn to your right, you will see a familiar face conversing with someone. Help them, and you may be rewarded. I am unsure as to what will happen if you do leave, but the results will almost definitely be negative. So do whatever you like, but just remember: the path you chose was your choice alone._

_Sincerest wishes on your journey,_

_Philemon_

The e-mail was signed using a small butterfly character. Neku didn't know how that was even possible, but he was just used to the world trying to screw with him by now. He was at a crossroads: should he follow the e-mail's advice, or should he ignore it and buy the tickets?

"Hmm... well, I could follow his advice, seeing that he isn't really that bad. I still don't know if I can completely trust him, though. Why can't he just do all of this himself?"

While, he was pondering, he saw a girl his age talking to someone wearing an oddly-styled pair of shades and a bit of a tan. She reminded him of the girl he saw in his dream, with the same orange hair and brown eyes, except for the fact that she didn't wear glasses, and seemed a lot more... confident than her dream counterpart.

"Isamu-kun, how are we supposed to do this mission?" the girl asked.

Isamu responded in a seemingly disinterested voice, "Well, we could try imprinting-"

"No imprinting, Shotaro!"

"How many times do I have to say it? It's Sho_tora_, not Shotaro. Anyways, I think that guy over there is staring at us." He pointed at Neku staring blankly at the both of them.

"Hey," Isamu called. "Are you another Player or something, or are you just trying to make us feel paranoid?"

"Oh, sorry. Anyways, maybe I could help you with the mission. I actually have a little experience when it comes to the Games, so yeah..."

The girl seemed rather interested in what Neku had to say. "So is that why you can see us? I'm pretty sure that you shouldn't see us even then..."

"Let's just say that my game was a little... _special_."

Isamu was a little sceptical about the whole offer. "Even if you could help us, it probably wouldn't work. Unless you're some sort of superstar, the Prince won't even bother with you."

Neku sighed. "_Another_ mission involving him? What does he need now?"

"Why don't you read the mail yourself?" Isamu handed his cellphone over. Neku was a little envious that his cellphone was a lot newer than his. (Then again, a lot of cellphones are newer than Neku's.)

He began to slowly read the mail to himself. "Mission: Help the star rise up from his slump. Time limit: 30 minutes. Fail, and face erasure."

"So basically, Keiko-san and I are trying to figure out how to cheer him up," Isamu said in a flat matter-of-fact voice.

Neku sighed. "Why don't you actually try reading his mind?"

"Well, all he said was that he wanted to go eat ramen somewhere, so..."

From those words, Neku just had a flash of realization. "Wait! A few days ago, Reika was talking about meeting the Prince somewhere, then seeing two kids around. Maybe she was talking about you two; and the Prince wants to go eat ramen with her!"

"What does she usually look like?" Keiko asked.

"Well, she has blue hair for some reason, it's usually in two curls on either side of her head and she usually wears traditional clothes unless she's training."

"Great! Now all we have to do is figure out how to find her. Shibuya is a crowded place, after all."

Isamu tried to find the Prince, but he was nowhere to be found. "Umm... I think we lost him."

"Wait," Keiko yelled, "he's over there!"

Neku turned to find the prince being carried by Moo Moo mooks. "H-help meeee!" he yelled.

"Just great," Isamu sighed. "How are we going to catch him now?"

"Come on, there has to be something we can do to get him back! If we don't, we'll..."

"Well, I would call for help, but I already used it..." Neku said.

Thanks to what Neku just said, Isamu had an idea. "O... O... OUENDAAAN!"

* * *

At the Dojo, the Ouendan were just finished with yoga.

"Beep!" Sayaka said with her ponytail pointing to where Isamu was.

"Why don't we handle that, Amemiya?" Hayato asked in a slightly condescending tone.

Reika went up to Hayato, due to a feeling she had about the situation. "Saionji-san... Why don't you let us go help this person?"

"I'd think that you would want to rest after what happened with your first encounter with Ulala-san and Sakuraba-kun's fight with a mysterious assailant."

"Umm... Actually, I don't feel tired at all, but... I have a strange feeling when it comes to this situation..."

"What exactly do you mean by that?"

Unfortunately, Reika already left with Sayaka and Honoka.

Shinta waved at the door. "Get an autograph for Makoto-chan, okay?"

* * *

As the level started with a cover of Kyosuke Himruro's B Blue, Reika and friends were at a nearby Def March concert for a little while until Sayaka yelled, "GO!!!"

Isamu got Keiko's scooter out, calling her to jump on. As they blazed towards the Prince, Neku was left to run on his own two feet.

"Guys, aren't you forgetting someone?" he asked, reaching his hand out towards the speeding teens.

"Iku wa yo! 3, 2, 1, Go!"

As the cheergirls' combo went up, Isamu could feel his spirit burning with passion. Unfortunately for Keiko, she could barely hold on, and could feel her grip loosening by the second.

The three teens passed by 104, where Shiki had just finished talking to Eri.

"So you see, we're not going to be back for a long while, but I'll be sure to work on your designs when I- eek!"

Suddenly, Shiki saw herself being dragged by Neku, who seemed to be in a blind rage.

"Slow down, Neku! Did you get the tickets yet?'

"Apparently, we don't need the tickets. Just RUN!!!"

Isamu had a little more trouble chasing down the mooks that took the Prince this time, as the streets became more and more crowded. Isamu usually liked the hustle and bustle of Shibuya's streets, but now was an inconvenient time to be reminded of it.

"Isamu-kuun, look out!" Keiko yelled as they were almost about to crash into a wall. In a split second, Isamu turned, finding a glimpse of the Prince's trademark frilly outfit. This gained the attention of the Bito siblings, who saw that Neku and Shiki were getting a bit tired from running for so long.

"Here, grab this!" Beat yelled, tossing the Melissas to Neku and Shiki.

"Thanks Beat! We were getting really tired, and we still have a long way to go!" Shiki said. "But what about you guys?"

"Don't worry, we still have our old boards!" Rhyme remarked.

"You're starting to really mess up my hair, you know that?" the Prince whined.

One mook grabbed at his sleeve even harder at that remark. "Who cares? You're going to die either way, so why not help the victors doing it?

"D-die!? Victors? All I ever wanted to do was make my fans happy; I never would have expected this to happen!"

Another mook began to chuckle. "We're almost there, Princey. The journey will only take a second..."

Isamu was starting to lose energy, most likely due to the cheergirls missing a beat. He suddenly felt incredibly tired, the Prince almost becoming a dot in the horizon.

"C'mon, Isamu-kun!" Keiko cheered from behind him.

Just as Isamu was about to pass out from exhaustion, he felt another sudden burst of energy, picking him right up. Unfortunately, he couldn't find the Prince, but he found a perfect opportunity to catch up.

"Keiko-san? Could you please hold on as tightly as you can? Because this ride is going to get a little bumpy."

Isamu put in all of his energy so he could speed up to a nearby ramp, conveniently placed in the middle of a busy Shibuya street. In a leap of faith, he launched himself up the ramp, trying to find the location of the Prince.

"Isamuuu! He's right over there!"

He could see him now, flailing around wildly on top of a bunch of masked people. Defying everything that his tutor ever taught him about physics, Isamu dove down to where the Moo Moo mooks were, and tailed them at breakneck speed.

Keiko bent over to her side and answered, "What do you guys want with the Prince!?"

Isamu reminded her, still focusing on the target, "They can't see us, remember?"

It was the final stretch of the song, and Isamu could just feel it. If he gave up now, all of this effort would be for nothing. Keiko finally settled down, cheering Isamu on and generally enjoying herself. Neku was still trying to catch up, along with his friends who had no idea why he was chasing Isamu and Keiko down in the first place.

"Gotcha!" Isamu exclaimed, imprinting one of the mooks. "Time for a distraction!" He decided to use the word "Panties" on the one who seemed to be doing the most work.

"P-Panties? Why am I thinking of that right now? Although I'd pay a hefty sum to see Masuyo-kyou in her underpants... I'm betting on them being black!" Drifting off into a sea of thought, he dropped the Prince almost immediately. Everyone else followed suit. Next, Isamu imprinted "Whip!" on the unsuspecting guy.

"Everyone, RETREAT!" he yelled, running from the Prince at the same speed he's been running trying to carry him, if not faster.

"Hey, get back here!" the rest yelled while chasing after him.

The Prince got up, still a little disoriented from the experience. "Thank goodness I'm still alive!" he exclaimed.

After a couple of seconds, Neku and friends arrived where the Prince was standing, looking to find his way back from where he was standing.

"Hey, I remember you!" the Prince said, looking straight at Neku. "I see you're still wearing the same old types of messes..."

"Hey, I'll dress anyway I want to," Neku said, insulted.

"Anyways, I guess I have you to thank for saving me. As a reward, I'll give you guys free tickets to my concert on the 28th!"

Shiki let out a sheepish laugh. "Actually, we already have tickets, and I'm not sure if you should be thanking us..."

"All right, then. Oh yeah, I heard from one of the Tin Pin pros that you were actually pretty good. There's a tournament at Molco tomorrow, and I hear that there's going to be a lofty sum."

"I'll be sure to check it out," Neku said.

Beat had a quick glance at Reika, so he tried to shove Neku and friends out of her sight. "Well, we hafta do something over at... Mexican Dog! Yeah, that's it, yo. We'll be seeing you soon, kay?"

Just when Beat was able to hide everyone, Reika saw the Prince playing a game of Reaper Creeper.

"Do you think she'll come?" he asked. "White for yes, Black for no and Red for when the world ends."

Isamu had no idea what he was talking about, but he wanted to make sure he could gather up enough inspiration to finally sing again, no matter how horrid he thought the Prince sounded.

"You had better not screw this up," Keiko said.

The coin inched closer and closer to Red, until Reika walked up to the Prince and asked, "Oh, is this some kind of game I've never heard of?"

Upon hearing her voice, the Prince immediately dropped his board. "I don't wanna die!" he whimpered.

"Hmm? Well, it's nice that I finally get to see you again."

"True. I was a little worried that I wasn't going to see you again. I've never seen someone who had such refined tastes when it comes to ramen."

"Well, I've been cooking some as practice, you know. Do you want to try some at our place?"

"Of course! It won't take us very long, will it?"

Reika walked ahead, to the bus where Sayaka and Honoka were standing nearby. When they turned away, Beat urged everyone to move to Mexican Dog for the day.

As they entered, Hideki greeted them with his usual, "Bienvenido, everyone!"

"Hey there, Kikuchi," everyone mumbled.

"Hey, I heard that you guys met my cousin. So how is he? Did he fool you guys at first?"

Neku looked a little ashamed. "If you're talking about his gender, then _yes_."

"Don't worry, it's happened to everyone at one point or another. Just ask his sempai!"

"You mean Saionji-san? I never heard anything about this," Shiki said.

"Well, it happened a while ago, and my cuz isn't really that willing to talk about it, so..."

All of a sudden, Neku heard his phone ring.

_From: PHIL_

_Subject: Congrats!_

_I see that you were able to help those two complete their mission. You'll need all the help you can get in order to defeat the enemy. Remember your Persona? That'll be very important during the fights to come. Of course, the only way to get more Personas is by using the Velvet Room, which may or may not appear later on._

_PS: You should follow the Prince's advice, for something interesting awaits you._

_PPS: Contrary to what you may think, I am not insane._

Neku closed his phone, puzzled by what he just saw. He took a moment to ponder what that just meant.

"Did he just... read my mind?"

His phone rang again, for a call this time.

"Why, yes I did."

* * *

You think this will be over soon? This isn't even halfway through yet! (Yes, I'm crazy ambitious...)

-The gods be lazy, and a little bit crazy in this story. Of course, they're all working for a good cause. At least, the ones we've seen so far. Sho could be a quasi-example, considering he's a little reality-warping now, and he's on the Chaotic Neutral end of things.

-What happened to the Agents? Well, I'm not so sure myself... I want to add them somewhere in a later chapter, maybe reference a few other fics in the process...

-I also just realized that the cheergirls do most of the actual cheering in this fic. Could it be unconscious wish-fulfilment, or just the fact that I pretty much play on Karei ni Ouen exclusively? I'll need to include more of the guys when it comes to cheering action later on. Pretty weird considering I'm a quasi-yaoi fangirl, too.


End file.
